Thief in the Night
by Triplet99c
Summary: When a group of men cause trouble in New York, it's up to the turtles to stop them, only to find out that they run into troubles themselves, one by one, and are now fighting for survival. (Warning, torture and blood will be used later on)
1. Chapter 1

Thief in the Night

Ch. 1

Rousing Chaos

Eight o'clock. It was closing time for a small jewelry store. The manager came out of the back room, letting out a loud sigh of irritation. There had been barely any customers all day, mostly due to people being scared of going outside due to attacks going on lately. People assumed that since this was a jewelry store, it would happen to them at one point soon.

"Closing time." the manager simply said as the three other workers that were there locked jewelry boxes. "Less customers than yesterday."

"If people think they're gonna blow up the first step they take in here, they're stupid." one of the employees muttered under his breath as he locked the last case. He turned, seeing the lights being turned off and keys being grabbed. Everyone was eager to go home, especially with such a slow day.

"Heard that." a female worker answered as she grabbed her jacket off the coat rack in the corner. She zipped it up, looking towards the male employee who had muttered. "People can be dumb, huh?"

"Let's just go home." another employee grumbled as he turned off the last set of lights. "I have more important things waiting than an empty shop and stupid New Yorkers."

"Downers." the manager sighed, walking past the female. He was about to grab his own coat when he saw a group of guys standing outside the door. There were about ten of them, each of them earring white, plain masks that you'd find at a party store. Black or brown jackets were zipped up to their necks and hoods were over their heads and he could see gloves over their hands. Their whole appearance was hidden. Interesting.

"Sorry, guys." he said, grabbing his jacket. "Store's closed. We'll be open again at seven."

The men continued to stand there, not saying or doing anything. The manager of the store grew nervous. Something told him these weren't just normal citizens, that they were much worse than that. The group stepped forward into the store, causing the manager to take a few steps back out of their way to avoid them.

"Look, I said come back tomorrow." he said, adding firmness to his voice. Maybe this would get them to go away. He saw one of the guys shake his head and the nervous feeling inside him grew larger and larger till he knew something was definitely up. He slowly moved his hand to his pocket to grab his cell phone, but, before he could grasp it, he heard a click and a gasp from one of his employees. A gun was pointed straight at his head, the man's finger on the trigger, threatening to pull it at any given moment.

"Give us all your money and jewels!" he said. His voice was deep, almost like he was using a voice disguiser. He saw the workers hesitate and he pressed his gun to the manager's forehead, making the manager cringe at the cold feeling of the barrel. "Do it now! You have sixty seconds!"

The employees scattered about, dumping the necklaces and earrings and bracelets into a bag one of the masked men held. Another ran to the cash register, dumping all the money in, though, there wasn't much since people mostly paid with credit cards. By the end of the sixty seconds, all the jewelry and cash was inside the bag. The man tied it closed, nodding his head towards one of the other guys.

"Good." the man said, letting out a soft chuckle as he slowly lowered the handgun off of the manager's forehead. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we'll be on our way now. Do not call the cops, you hear me?" He then ran out the back, the other nine men following close behind.

Everyone stared in shock at the backdoor, still surprised by what had just happened.

"What...what just…" the female whispered, staring wide eyed at the door she'd just seen the group of men run out of. Everything had happened so quickly. In just a matter of almost two minutes, all their money was gone, all their jewels were gone and criminals had made a getaway. She then turned her head quickly when she heard one of the male employees gasp.

"Hear that ticking?" he said, keeping his voice low as he looking from side to side, trying to find the source of the noise. The manager then looked over too, wondering the same thing. Pretty soon, everyone was searching.

"David!" the female shouted, looking over at the manager. "The ticking! It's a bomb! The men planted a bomb!"

And she was correct. Everyone stared in horror at the small, black box near the front door, now reading thirty seconds and counting. "Run!" the manager- or David- shouted, pointing to the front door urgently. "We need to get out! This place is going to blow!"

Everyone rushed out near the front door, getting about twenty feet from the building. When they came out, they noticed that there were multiple news reporters, since someone was interviewing a restaurant owner until someone else reported hearing shouting at the jewelry store. The reporters ran towards them, wanting to throw all kinds of questions at them. That was until a loud boom sounded.

Gasps of horror filled the air as the building exploded. A few ducked down, avoiding flying rubble from the explosion. The ground shook slightly, and people let out screams of shock. The workers of the store stood, surprise and shock and horror written in their faces as they saw their bosses' most favorite place, his store, burning with the bright, orange flames.

"Go, go!" Mikey shouted, pumping his fist in the air with excitement. "Beat him!" The silly cartoon played on the screen for the third time that week, making Leo and Raph avoid watching it, even though they could see the television clearly from where they sat. The man, also known as Crognard, was about to defeat an alien of some kind. Crognard raised his sword, and, with a yell, he brought it down on the alien's head and then turned to the "camera", giving a grin of triumph.

"Yeah!" Mikey cheered, pumping both fists now. "Go Crognard!" He laid on his plastron, kicking his feet in the air behind him like a kid. "Time to go beat more aliens!"

"How many times have you watched that?" Leo asked, crossing one leg over the other.

"Says the one who hogs the TV with Space Heros!" Mikey retorted, glancing back over his shoulder briefly as he stuck out his tongue in a teasing way.

Leo glared as he heard Mikey laugh and glanced over at Raph, who was on a beanbag, covering his face with his magazine to hide the fact that he was snickering as well. Leo sighed, looking back at the television, despite his little interest in the show since he'd already seen it. Crognard was about to run into a battle when he heard Donnie run out of his lab.

"Guys!" Donnie shouted urgently, holding his T-phone tightly in his hand as he ran. "Guys! Turn on the news right now!"

"Aw, but why?" Mikey whined, throwing his head back in protest. "Crognard was about to-"

"There's another robbery going on!" Donnie interrupted as he quickly sat down. "It could be those guys again! Hurry, change it!"

"Okay, okay, geez!" Mikey muttered as he fumbled the remote in his hands, clumsily clicking the channel button with his large thumb. "Chill out, bro." But, secretly, he was some-what panicky, especially since he found out that these guys have been roaming around the past two days, blowing up stores of higher value. If this was another attack, they'd have to do something for sure. As soon as he changed the station, a news reporter was in the middle of speaking.

"...say that they heard shouts in this jewelry store." the lady said calmly. "They have said they saw a group of guys walk into this store. However, they didn't get to see their appearance."

A few gasps then filled the air when it was seen through the glass door of the shop that one of the guys put a handgun to the owner's head.

"It appears that they are using force to-" But she then stopped as she saw the employees scattering about, dumping contents from the shop into a large bag one of the guys held. "Could these be the men who've shown up in these past few days? For those of you who don't know, these guys, who people call the "Swift Terrorists", they-" She then stopped again when she saw the guys run out the back, leaving the employees and the manager or owner to stand there.

The reporter stayed silent, watching the people turn their heads around as if they were looking for something. She then saw everyone run out the front, surprised how quickly they got out of there. She saw other reporters racing towards them, microphones out, desperate to know what exactly happened in there. This reporter knew exactly what was up, so she stayed and looked at everyone in the crowd of reporters and shouted, "It's another attack!". But they didn't listen.

Suddenly, gasps and screams filled the air as an explosion came from the building and the turtles let out gasps of their own. They saw the building in flames, flaming rubble falling frequently, and the reporter couldn't help but have a shocked expression plastered on her face.

"This appears to be yet another attack by the "Swift Terrorists"!" she shouted over the roar of the mighty flames. "Whatever you do, do not go outside! Stay in your homes, I repeat, stay in your-"

Mikey then shut off the television, tired of hearing about so much doom and gloom. The four brothers stared at the television as if trying to decipher what has just happened. Raph looked over to the leader, who was still staring ahead. It is almost as if he could see the wheels turning in his mind, trying to figure out what to do about the chaos topside.

"Well, what should we do?" he asked, crossing his arms. "It's been three days! These guys can NOT cause anymore trouble!"

Leo snapped out of his thoughts, turning to his brothers slowly. "We go out." he replied. "But not tonight. The deed's already been done."

"So, when?" Raph asked, raising an eyebrow. "Tomorrow?"

"That's exactly when." Leo answered with a nod of his head. "Donnie, you said there was a pattern of when they go out, right?"

"There sure is." Donnie nodded. "They seem to be going to the shops at about eight o'clock every night, which is every twenty four hours."

Leo nodded his head, knowing that they'd most likely be in another store at eight. "Where have the already attacked?"

"The first store they bombed was a video game store." Donnie replied. "They stole all the video games and the consoles and then took the money and blew up the place so there wouldn't be evidence. It was in a shopping strip, so the two buildings on either side of it got partial damage. No injuries, though, thank goodness."

"The second one?"

"The second one was a technology shop full of computers and hard drives...oh those poor computers." Donnie then cleared his throat in an awkward manner when he saw his brothers staring at him. "Anyway, they managed to steal about three fourths of the stuff before they heard police sirens about a mile away. So, they placed a bomb and ran out without being spotted."

"And today was the jewelry store…" Leo sighed, glancing towards the television again. "These guys seem pretty stealthy for gang members…no wonder they're called the "Swift Terrorists". They get in and get out."

Donnie nodded his head at Leo's thinking and then waited for Leo to say something else.

"Where do you think they'll go next?" Leo asked him. He was worried, especially for the safety of their human friends, April and Casey. If they were at a location just in time for the robbery...

"Well, they seem to be going to shops of higher value each time." Donnie concluded. "If you think like them, they may go to a bridal shop and steal all the expensive dresses and tuxes. Or, knowing their thinking so far, they'd probably jump right ahead to the bank."

Leo paused. The bank? Now things were getting serious. If they robbed the bank, all hell would break loose in New York, and, even worse, millions of dollars would be lost. They couldn't let that happen. He let out a soft sigh, standing to his feet slowly. "Okay," he said. "We NEED to head out tonight, or else bad things will definitely happen."

"So we're going out tomorrow night, right?" Raph asked him.

Leo nodded his head, glancing at all of his brothers and the television before he spoke again. "Sounds like a plan." he answered. "We'll get out an hour before they rob, catch them and then leave them for the cops."

His brothers all nodded their heads, looking at each other. Raph smirked, glad to beat up some scum again.

"Alright," he chuckled. "Let's do it."

The group of ten men walked through the halls of a building, trying to find a very specific location to tell of what happened and the success they'd made. The men walked onward for several minutes, talking amongst themselves about what would happen next. But, their chit chat slowly dwindled down when they came across a large door. Two of the guys pushed the heavy door open and everyone else walked inside, the two that opened the door following seconds later.

The men walked into the spacious room, kneeling down on one knee when they were halfway across. They kept their heads down, not wanting to look up, for they may get shouted at by the person sitting above them. They remained silent, waiting for the person to speak.

"I assume you have succeeded or else you would not have come back." the deep voiced man commented, softly drumming his fingers on the large seat he sat in. He smiled from under his helmet he wore upon his head, letting out a low chuckle. "Foot ninjas."

At this, seven of the men looked up at the person, waiting for orders.

"Get out of those street clothes and back into your uniforms."

The ninjas nodded, standing to their feet and bowing in a respectful way before exiting the room. The man on the throne-like chair looked down at the other three men, who still hadn't looked up.

"Take off your masks." the man on the throne commanded.

The three guys nodded, taking off their white masks and setting them by their feet. One of them, known as Fong, let out a chuckle, a smile on his face. "One step closer to getting paid my ten grand, right, Shredder?" the hoodlum asked, glancing at his partners in crime, Tsoi and Sid.

"Correct." Shredder answered, sending a glare down at him from where he sat. "And I suggest you call me "Master" unless you wish to never speak again."

"Uh, y-yes Master Shredder." Fong shuddered, bowing his head in apology.

Shredder nodded his head slowly, leaning back against the backrest of his seat. "Your third mission is complete." he said after a moment of silence. "Tomorrow at the same time you will go to the bank located a few miles from here. You are to steal as much money as you can take and blow up the building afterwards. Do you understand me?"

"Very clear, Master." Fong nodded, flashing a grin. "I bet those stupid turtles are sure to come out soon, huh? Especially since they've probably seen what we've been doin'. They'll soon realize all this bombing is just a distraction..."

"I believe they will." Shredder replied. "If they do not come out tomorrow, we will have to move to heavier measures." He leaned forward. "You and my Foot ninjas will do whatever it costs to make the rat suffer. You made a truce to work with them, did you not?"

"Not saying I'm disagreeing." Fong answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm in it all the way if it means getting rid of those pests that keep ruining our crime getaways."

"Then tomorrow night you will go to where I have said." Shredder leaned back again. "And if that does not work we will move to blowing up larger complexes with more people inside."

"Sounds like a good time." Fong snickered. "And if those turtles come out tomorrow?"

"Then you will capture one. Only one. We will capture them one at a time each day, giving their other brothers feeling of hopeless and despair. They will be so distracted finding the first brother that they won't see attacking the second coming."

"Is this a birth order thing, boss?" Sid asked.

"Exactly." Shredder answered before Fong could. "I assume the blue one is the oldest of the four since he is the leader. Take him first."

"Yes, Master." the three gang members replied in unison, bowing their heads.

"Now go. You head out tomorrow at the same time as today."

The gang members nodded, standing to their feet and heading out the door as Shredder watched them leave, smiling to himself. The fun was about to start.


	2. Chapter 2

Thief in the Night

Ch. 2

Capture

The turtles spent the whole next day planning everything to catch these guys. They planned exactly when they'd go out and Donnie concluded estimates at when they might be back. They went around the Lair, gathering the tools they were going to need, like rope to tie the men up with afterwards to leave for the police, as well as smoke bombs. Because, you know, just in case.

Raph had suggested that they didn't run the whole way there. Donnie found out the bank they were most likely going to was around three miles from the Lair. Going that far would tire them, and so Raph suggested taking the Shellrazor two and a half miles out, parking it in an alley, which happened to be near Murikami's, and then running by roof.

Everyone thought that this was a good idea, so they decided to stick with it. Now all they had to do was wait for seven o'clock to come.

Donnie glanced at his watch as they all sat in front of the TV, their eyes glued to the news station as the reporters brought up the incident yesterday for the fourth time that day. Good thing nothing new had happened today. Yet, anyway. The time was 6:54, only six more minutes until they would leave.

"You'd think that they had thought about people who listen to the news all day." Raph huffed, gesturing towards the television. "This is the fourth time we've heard this!"

"Yeah, and they'll continue to." Donnie answered. "News channels continue the same story for days and days until something else "exciting" happens."

Raph sighed, leaning his head back against the backrest, tired of hearing the blonde haired man on the screen talk about the explosion. Of course he knew some of the information was false. He just couldn't pick what was true or not.

"Why do they go on so long?" Mikey whined. "Are they TRYING to lose people's interest?"

Donnie just shrugged his shoulders again, only to glance back down at his T-phone again. The time was now 6:57. May as well leave early than late. The purple banded turtle stood to his feet, getting an expectant look from the leader.

"We heading out already?" Leo asked, clearly not used to not saying the rules. He shrugged. "Guess going early will be fine."

"It'll benefit us more than anything, to be honest." Donnie answered, putting his T-phone back in his belt. He looked towards Leo, seeing that he was rising to his feet, rolling his stiff neck.

"Alright," Leo said, starting to walk towards the exit. "Let's head out."

Master Splinter then stepped out of the dojo before his sons could even start climbing the steps, watching them. He knew what they were doing, since Leo had told him everything. He agreed with his plan and was allowing them to go. He could not help but feel nervous, though. After all, how could a father not be worried about his own sons?

"Be careful, my sons." Splinter calmly said as he slowly walked over to them. "It is winter. I do hope you do not catch colds." He sent a glance over at Donnie, for he knew the brains of the group was also the one who always seemed to get sick first.

"We'll be careful, Sensei." Leo assured him, looking up and putting on a small smile. "Besides, these are just some thugs. We can take them. It won't be too hard."

"You should not be overconfident." Splinter replied, looking at his four sons as they grinned triumphantly at Leo's comment. "You do not know who exactly you are up against. You may be underestimating these so called 'thugs'."

"I'm sure everything will be a-okay, Sensei." Donnie added in. He patted his pocket on his belt, showing that he had his phone. "If something goes wrong, we'll be sure to call you in a jiffy!"

Splinter let out a soft sigh as the four turtles gave him reassuring smiles. He put on a small grin of his own, though his grey eyebrows were still arched slightly in worry. "I know you will." he said. "But do be cautious."

"We will!" Leo called over his shoulder as he and his brothers started to speed walk to where the Shellrazor was kept at.

Splinter watched them leave, very dissatisfied with the fact that this nervous feeling had not gone away yet, much to the reassuring that his sons had given him. He slowly walked back into the dojo, thoughts running through his mind as he walked into the spacious room. Why was he so nervous? Was something bad bound to happen? What if something happened to his sons? What if they got too cold? What if another attack happens after all?

All these what if's ran through his head as he lowered himself into a pillow sitting on the floor. He sat, staring at the floor, unable to quiet his mind. He then closed his eyes, breathing in and out deeply to try to get into a meditative state. Maybe meditating would help calm his thoughts.

The brothers all piled into the Shellrazor, sitting in the seats they normally sat in, which meant Leo was once again driving. Everyone fastened their seat belts, looking to Leo for instruction. Leo nodded his head, signaling that it was time to leave. He put his foot on the gas just as the door to their garage opened. The large vehicle zoomed out onto the street, and Leo let out a sigh of relief as he noticed not many cars were out tonight.

As Leo drove, Donnie made sure to check where they were going on his T-phone, as well as checking the time. They were running right on time now, not early, not late. Just right.

"So what if those guys aren't coming out tonight after all?" Raph asked as Leo made a right turn.

"Well," Leo answered, letting out a sigh. "I'm not sure. I'm sure they will be out though, considering they have been three days in a row. Why would they just stop now?"

"True." Raph replied, crossing his arms across his chest to get comfortable. "Guess kicking some butt wouldn't be bad."

"Like Master Splinter said, Raph, don't be over confident with this." Leo said, glancing up at him from the driver's mirror above his head before focusing on the road again. "We have no idea who these guys even are."

"They don't seem too tough." Raph shrugged.

"They just may be tougher than they appear, Raph." Donnie added in. "We have no way of knowing. Oh, Leo! Turn left and then go into the alleyway two buildings down from Murikami's."

Leo nodded, still very unused to the feeling of taking orders instead of giving them. But, he did it anyway, since Donnie had the directions and not him. He slowly pulled into the tight alleyway, hoping they'd be able to get the doors open all the way. He turned the key, stopping the car completely before trying to open his door, happy to find out it could swing open most of the way.

The rest of his brothers hopped out, their gear clinking softly as their feet touched the ground. They all looked at each other, nodded, and then swiftly went up the fire escape stairs and onto the rooftops. Then, they ran towards the direction of the bank.

Mikey ran next to Leo, briefly glancing over at him before asking a question. "So what do we do when we get to the bank?"

"We keep moving on until we find these guys." Leo answered. "We can't just hide from them."

"So we're playing hide and seek or something?" Raph snickered. "Not like they're gonna come out when we say 'ready or not'."

Leo sighed, shaking his head at the red banded ninja's comment. He remained silent, continuing to run across rooftops and jump across ledges. Pretty soon, they all made their way to the bank's rooftop and they stopped. Donnie looked around, surveying the area.

"Well," Donnie said. "I would assume this is where they're going."

"How much money do you think is in there, dudes?" Mikey asked, looking at the street below them.

"A lot." Donnie replied, not wanting to confuse his brother with large numbers.

"And, how much is a lot?" Mikey replied with a grin, stretching out the 'and'.

Donnie let out a soft sigh. "Probably a few hundred million. Maybe even more, who knows."

"Woah!" Mikey exclaimed. "Imagine what we could do with that kind of dough!"

"You're going to say buy a lifetime supply of pizza, aren't you?" Raph asked in a monotone voice.

"Well duh!" Mikey answered, throwing his hands to the side. "Best thing to spend your money on, bro!"

"Let's keep going." Leo said, looking at his phone to find that it was already 7:12. "Come on, guys." He then started to jog again, his brothers following close behind him.

They looked left and right as they ran, seeing if they could spot the group of men running on the rooftops, since they most likely went up there before robbing a store. They ran on for a few more minutes before stopping and surveying the area. Raph tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the guys to show up.

"Where are they?" Raph grumbled, letting out a huff of annoyance. "What time is it?"

"Only 7:21." Donnie replied. "Who knows? They might not even be out yet."

Raph sighed again, sitting down on the rooftop. If he was going to have to wait forever for these thugs to show up, he may as well sit down. The other brothers followed suit, though they still kept watch, just in case they were to show up.

They all sat there for several more minutes, multitasking. They'd watch for a bit, talk to each other and then continue to watch. They did this system until Leo saw silhouettes running about a half mile off.

"Guys!" he shouted, quickly jumping to his feet. "There they are!"

"Alright!" Raph exclaimed, standing to his feet as well, a smirk on his face. "Time to kick some butt!"

They all started to run in the silhouettes' direction. Then, they two groups passed each other. Leo let out a grunt of irritation and spun around to run into the other direction, until the group of gang members stopped in their tracks, making the turtles stop too. Leo was getting very confused. Why had they stopped?

The guys then turned, facing the turtles. But Leo noticed there was only three of them instead of ten. They wore different attire tonight, which consisted of plain, grey masks, trench coats and fedoras, the hoods of the coats pulled tightly over their heads. Leo now was starting to understand why they looked different than last night on the TV; they didn't want people to quickly recognize them.

The time was 7:55. The gang members were running a few minutes early tonight. But the turtles didn't care. The sooner they could get home, the less worried Splinter would be.

"I see you're following us." the man, who was actually Fong, spoke, his voice deep from the voice changer.

"Yeah." Leo answered, sending a glare in their direction. "Why are you doing this? What are you trying to prove?"

"Nothing." Fong chuckled, a smirk appearing from under his mask. "We are proving nothing. I think you pests should move out of the way before we blow you up with this bank." The guys behind him, Tsoi and Sid, chuckled.

"Who are you?" Mikey shouted, putting his hands on his nunchucks.

"Well," Fong muttered. "If you really wanna know."

The turtles glanced at each other suspiciously. What was that suppose to mean?

Fong removed his mask and Tsoi and Sid followed him. He smirked at the turtles, clutching the cheap mask at his side. "Long time no see." he said, keeping the voice changer by his mouth.

The turtles let out gasps, staring at the guys in shock.

"You?!" Raph gasped. He then laughed. "Really? The Purple Dragons?!" He shook his head as he continued to laugh, his brothers joining in the laughter. "YOU'RE the one behind all this? Wow. You all will be pretty dang easy to beat."

"It's not just us." Tsoi chuckled, causing the turtles to raise an eyebrow of question. Not just them? Did they bring someone else? Fong nodded, chuckling along with Tsoi. The turtles furrowed their brows, still utterly confused at what they were chuckling about. Pretty soon, though, they found out as they saw a group of Foot ninjas climb up the sides of the building, jumping onto the rooftop.

"You see," Fong said, looking at all the Foot ninjas. "We saw you guys running along and decided to call in some other guys. Though, seven of them were with us last night." He put on his smirk again. "We just thought we should call a few more."

"Few?" Mikey asked. "There's twenty more than yesterday!" He then got an elbow in the side from Raph, who glared slightly at his younger brother because of his comment.

The Foot ninjas started to circle the turtles slowly. The brothers took out their weapons, looking around at the ninjas surrounding them. There weren't a lot. They'd taken more than the amount there was now. The four mutants smirked at each other, dashed forward and attacked.

The Foot soldiers fell one by one, but more replaced them. Despite how quickly the turtles were taking them down, they all started to grow a little nervous. There were double the amount there was when the fight first began! But, they kept fighting, swinging their weapons and knocking the ninjas out. The turtles fought on for several more minutes, growing exhausted when they saw more and more Foot climbing up the sides of the building,

Suddenly, there were too many to take. There were now seventy-five Foot ninjas surrounding them, preventing escape. They couldn't fall back. They were forced to stay put and fight.

"This is getting tough, Leo!" Raph shouted, taking a hit from the ninja of his side. "Not even I think we can take this many! They just keep coming!"

"Calm down, I'll think of something!" Leo yelled back, slicing his katanas at the group of Foot. He looked around, trying to find some kind of escape route as his brothers were getting punches from the Foot ninjas. Finally, he saw a gap in the circle of ninjas, just a big enough space to run through. Leo looked towards his brothers, calling to them and gesturing towards the gap in the sea of black uniforms.

His brothers all nodded back, staying silent, for they did not want to reveal where they were running to. With a yell, they all charged towards the opening. But, their plan was a failure. The ninjas stepped to the side, blocking the path just before the turtles could get through. They took out their weapons, pushing the four brothers back forcefully. They all fell on their backs, but quickly jumped to their feet.

Before they were able to fight again, another group of Foot ninjas jumped out, knocking everyone but Leo to the ground. Leo started to run towards his brothers as they slowly rose to their feet, only to feel an arm strongly grip his shoulder and pull him in. He tried to cry out, but a gloved hand went over his mouth before the noise could escape. Before Leo could do anything, the ninja hit him hard in his temple, knocking him cold.

His brothers got to their feet, looking over at the Foot ninja in shock. "Leo!" the cried, starting to run towards the ninja holding him captive. They were stopped by a few Foot who jumped in front of Leo, pushing the turtles backwards. Fong then walked over with Tsoi and Sid, all of them smiling.

"Bye, pests!" Fong laughed. "Nice to know we finally beat you!"

And with that, one of the Foot ninjas threw a smoke bomb, causing white smoke to scatter everywhere. The turtles all coughed, waving the smoke away from their faces, their eyes watering from the smoke. The smoke began to clear seconds later, and the turtles were ready to attack again.

But as soon as the smoke cleared out completely, they stared in utter horror at nothingness. The Foot and the Purple Dragons were gone, and Leo was now with them.


	3. Chapter 3

Thief in the Night

Ch. 3

Cells

The turtles had tried to find their brother. They had ran across the rooftops for a few minutes more, trying to see if they could spot a group of Foot running. But they found absolutely nothing. The Foot had disappeared too quickly. They all four looked at each other as the reality hit them; they couldn't barge into Foot headquarters. Not yet. Splinter had to know.

So they all ran back towards the Lair, growing tired at how much adrenaline they were taking away. They came to the Lair quickly, stopping after they climbed over the turnstiles to catch their breath. Splinter heard them run in and came out of the dojo. He slid the door open, only to realize something was wrong. Someone was missing out of the panting turtles.

"Where's Leonardo?" Splinter asked, worry clutching his heart. He grew even more worried when looks of dread and guilt came over his son's faces.

"Sensei…" Donnie started, looking up at Splinter. "We found those guys...it turns out that they were the Purple Dragons teamed up with the Foot."

Splinter was surprised at this, but let his son continue.

"We fought them, and we thought we were winning until more of them showed up. There were too many...and we tried to fall back, but they cut us off. They managed to knock Leo out and take him away." Donnie sighed, tilting his head to the floor. "We looked for him...but it was too late…"

A wave of terror and sadness washed over the old eat as he heard this. His son was gone? And if the Foot took him, then he was now in the hands of the Shredder. What was going to happen to him? Splinter let out a sigh as he walked towards his sons, putting a hand on one of their shoulders.

"You mustn't blame yourselves." Splinter said, looking at the three of them. "There was no way to stop them, especially since you said they disappeared so quickly. There was no way that you could have caught them in time."

His sons nodded, though they still stared at the ground.

"We will find your brother." Splinter continued. "But first, we must make a plan in order to rescue him."

"Plan?" Raph asked, his brow furrowing. "We don't NEED a plan! What we need right now is to march over to the Foot headquarters, break in and save our brother before the Shredder does anything!"

"We can't just do that, Raph!" Donnie answered. "We'll all get out in jeopardy! What we DO need to do is make a plan and then use that plan properly."

Raph let out a huff. "We have no time!"

"Of course we don't!" Donnie replied, raising his voice. "But if we just barge in there, who knows what will happen! It won't be just Leo in trouble but us too!"

Raph let out a soft sigh, looking at the ground and then back at Donnie and then Splinter. "Alright." he said. "Let's make a plan…"

The three Purple Dragons entered into Shredder's throne room, pleased with what had just happened. They knelt down in front of the throne in the room, looking towards the ground.

Shredder stayed silent for a moment or two, staring at the three thugs before speaking. "I have heard that you've captured the oldest." Shredder spoke.

"Yeah, we did." Fong answered, looking upward. "So, where's the money? You promised us ten grand for our gang."

"I want you to help my ninjas with one more task." Shredder answered.

"You mean I have to do more work?" Fong replied, his brow furrowing in anger. "We had a deal!"

"And this deal will last longer." Shredder replied, narrowing his eyes at the man.

Fong sighed, nodding his head. He then smirked. "So, if I do more work that means a get paid more, right?"

Shredder stayed silent. He didn't think these stupid gang boys deserved anymore. But, they wouldn't shut up if he didn't give them extra. He couldn't give them too much.

"Yeah." Sid chimed in. "We want extra dough for this extra business."

"Very well." Shredder answered, a hint of irritation in his deep voice. "I will add five grand to the payment."

Fong nodded his head, though he wished he was earning more cash than just fifteen grand. It didn't seem like much, but to a group of gang members, it could get them somewhere. Fong nodded again, cracking a smile. "Deal." he said. "So what do you want us to do, uh, Master?" He cringed. The word master felt weird on his tongue.

Shredder leaned forward in his feet, looking down at the group of guys as if they were just a group of cockroaches, destined to be smushed under his foot eventually. "Tomorrow night, same time as usual, you will capture the second oldest, which I am assuming is the red one."

"How do you know they'll be out?" Fong asked.

"Their brother is missing. Surely they are searching. They would not sit and do nothing. They will be out looking for a clue of some sorts, or trying to come here. Even if they're all attacking, only capture one. Capture the red one. Do you understand me?"

The three hoodlums nodded their heads in response and Shredder dipped his head at them.

"Good." he said. "Now go. Prepare for tomorrow."

The three guys nodded again, standing to their feet slowly. They then turned and left the room.

Leo's eyes opened slowly as he let out a low, pained groan. His head hurt, especially in his temple, where he could feel his pulse. His vision swimmed before him, as if it were trying to figure out whether he should stay awake or not.

As soon as his vision came into focus, he saw that he was in a small square room, the walls, ceiling and floor all made of cold cement. From where Leo lay, he could see that his only light source at the moment was a tiny window across the room. Not like it did much anyway, since there were two bars over it, preventing any kind of escape.

He slowly raised his head, ignoring his headache as he did so. He tried to stretch to relieve his sore muscles, but was surprised to hear a soft clicking sound behind him. He turned his head, seeing that a chain about three or four feet long was clasped on one of his ankles.

The turtle sighed, laying his cheek back down in the cool floor, staring at the dim moonlight coming out from the window. Now what? He was trapped. What was he supposed to do? He was still trying to figure out why those guys even bombed all those places. Must've been some kind of distraction. He wanted to slap himself.

iStupid!/i he thought to himself, glaring at the cement ground. iIt's so obvious!/i

He then forced himself to sit up, taking in his surroundings more. He noticed that his brothers were not with him. He didn't know what had happened, since he had been knocked out. Were they safe? Were they trapped here? If so, where? Why weren't they with him? He hoped and prayed that they were at home, safe and sound. But if his brothers weren't captured...why did only he get captured?

Leo knew there were too many questions that would not be answered at the moment, so he leaned back against the wall, listening to the chain rattle and clank. He got a realization that made him so terribly sad, that went over him like an ocean wave;

Leo was all alone. He was going to have to face this himself...or so he thought.

 **Author's Note: I'm so sorry that this chapter is shorter than the others! I'll be sure to make Ch. 4 longer! Anyway, thank you all so much for the reviews so far!**


	4. Chapter 4

Thief in the Night

Ch. 4

The turtles and their Sensei had been working for hours, studying maps and looking up locations or any news on the Swift Terrorists. They found nothing news-wise, but they had an idea where Leo was. As far as they knew, Leo was with the Shredder, but they had no knowledge whether he moved his base or not. They were all making a plan, which made the turtles grow more and more anxious and restless, especially Mikey and Raph. Mikey was constantly asking when they were leaving, and Raph always tried to convince them to leave.

"We can't leave!" Donnie had pointed out. "It's daylight. If we go out with the sun shining, chances are that we all may get caught, and not by the Shredder either."

Mikey and Raph eventually accepted this, though, they were still anxious to get out. Leo was in trouble, after all. Who knew what would happen. Donnie estimated that this plan may take a day or two to take action, considering they'd need all the help they could get. But, Leo couldn't wait a day or two. He had to get rescued now.

But, the orange and red banded turtles obeyed, waiting for the plan to come together. They didn't like it, but it was best. But, the longer they waited, the more things were happening back at Shredder's lair.

Leo let out a grunt of pain as he got punched for what felt like the millionth time that day. He had no idea why they were beating him. They weren't even interrogating him. If they didn't need to know where the lair was, why were they doing this? He had been wondering these things all day.

Leo spit some blood on the floor from his busted lip and then looked up at the Shredder, who was smirking from under his mask. Leo could see the smile in his eyes. Shredder was enjoying this too much. He had come into Leo's cell every few hours and would stay in for about half an hour before leaving again. So, in just a matter of around twelve hours or so, Shredder had been in there several times.

"Funny how you will not break." Shredder laughed. "You will surely be broken as soon as I am finished with you."

Leo's head whipped to the side as he got punched again right in the cheek. He turned his head, staring at the floor, panting lightly as he felt a bruise start to form.

"Or, you may break after your brother arrives." Shredder added.

Leo's head snapped up, his eyes wide in terror, which then turned into anger. "Don't you dare!" he growled. "You leave my brothers out of this!"

"No can do." Shredder answered. "This is my plan, after all. As soon as I get all four of you here, your beloved Sensei will be so full of despair that he'll surely come to save you all. And when he does…" The man chuckled. "You'll get to see me decapitate your father right in front of you."

Leo gasped but quickly shook off the feeling of dread he got. He didn't want to give the Shredder the satisfaction of seeing him afraid. He said nothing, though his death glare told him everything Shredder needed to hear. _If you hurt my family...you'll end up hurting worse._

"Tonight your hotheaded brother is next." Shredder said. "Which only leaves him twelve hours."

Leo did the math in his head, figuring out it was eight in the morning. He wished he could warn his brothers somehow that the treat was coming again. But, he couldn't. He was completely helpless in this situation, and that hurt him beyond belief.

Shredder laughed at Leo's saddened figure and he punched him again, this time under his jaw, causing Leo's head to snap upward. "Oh, it'll be so much more fun to hear two screams instead of just one." He then stabbed Leo in the arm, making him let out another grunt and a hiss of pain. He refused to cry out.

"You'll scream eventually." Shredder muttered, watching Leo bite his lip. He then turned, leaving the room with the two Foot that came in with him.

Leo heard the door slam shut and he lifted his head, looking at the now empty room. His heart raced, not because of the pain in his upper arm but because he wasn't the only one in danger now. He glanced over at his arm, watching the crimson blood trickle downward on his elbow pad, turning his sports wrap below the pad red.

Leo was petrified. He knew that if Shredder was determined enough, he'd get what he wanted, and that sure as heck wasn't what Leo wanted. The turtle sighed, hanging his head down, silently praying to himself that his brothers would be safe. He prayed that he would be fine too by the time Raph got here. He didn't want his brother to see him so battered.

He wanted to slap himself right then. WHEN his brother got here? No! He didn't want him here at all. Leo let out a huff, looking at his arm again. Before he could do anything else, he had to take care of this cut.

So, he did. He unwrapped the sports tape from his wrist, wrapping it around his arm, watching the blood seep through instantly. It wasn't much, but it would have to do. Now he had one less thing to worry about...for now, anyway. Too many cons piled in Leo's head and not enough pros.

Leo tried to stay positive, he tried to think good thoughts. But, those thoughts were becoming more and more saddening the more he thought about what could happen.

It was almost eight o'clock at night. Everyone at the lair had been working all day, trying to contact as many people as they could; April, Casey, the Mutanimals, anyone. April and Casey couldn't even help them if they wanted to due to school, and they couldn't contact the Mutanimals. So, that left them all at square one, which made Mikey and Raph even more frustrated.

"When are we going up there, dudes?" Mikey asked, worry filling him. "Leo needs saving!"

"Soon, Mikey." Donnie answered. "Possibly in a few hours."

"Few hours?" Mikey whined. "Dude! The sun's down! Its already said 'see ya'! Can't we just go n-"

"No." Donnie sighed. "We need help. And as far as I know, we don't have any right now. If we don't have anyone to come with us by ten, THEN we will all go ourselves. Okay?"

"Okay…" Mikey muttered, nodding his head. He still wished that they didn't have to wait. He wished he could run out at that very moment. But, he stayed put, and Raph did too. Mikey went and sat next to Raph, who was looking at the TV again that night. He could almost see the wheels turning in his brother's head.

"Yo, dude, it's okay." Mikey said with a smile. "We'll get him!"

"What if Shredder already killed him?" Raph muttered, looking towards Mikey. "We can't just lose a leader."

"Leo will be okay, bro." Mikey answered. "He's a ninja, he's smart and he's strong. He'll get through it." He smiled wider. "I know it." Though, the orange banded turtle was trying to convince himself as he reassured his brother.

Raph let out a sigh, watching the news recover the event that had happened just a day earlier. Raph nodded his head slowly as he stood up. "I'm heading out." Raph said.

"Wait, OUT?" Donnie asked, looking up from the map he held. "Are you crazy? Those guys are out there!"

"A; they are waiting for us to come to them, 'cause why else would they have Leo and B; I'll be fine." Raph replied, patting his pocket to show that he has his T-phone, along with his weapons. "I'm just gonna get a look at the city real quick, get some fresh air."

"Alright." Donnie sighed.

"Try to only stay out for a half hour, Raphael." Splinter cautioned.

"Alright, alright, chill." Raph answered, holding his hands up. "I'll be right back." He then turned and jumped over the turnstiles and headed into the sewer tunnels, not knowing that he wouldn't return.

He went up the ladder, already feeling the cool of the winter night when he reached the top. He lifted the manhole cover, stepped out and slid it back into place. He then ran up the fire escape stairs, being as quiet as possible, as well as quick. He then stepped onto the rooftop and walked over to the edge, sitting down and staring at the city below.

People bustled about, trying to get home quickly due to the cold temperatures on their way. Taxi lights shined, people shouted, horns honked; there was lots of commotion. But Raph didn't mind at all. He was very used to lots of noise. He felt the cool breeze go by him, filling him with a sense of relaxation. It was nice, especially since he's been so anxious.

He pulled one knee to his plastron, watching the city lights twinkle from the tall buildings. New York truly was a beautiful sight, and he came up here a lot just to look at the lights, feel the breeze and listen to the noise. To him, the city was peaceful to him as meditation was peaceful to his Sensei.

He smirked, watching the city still. That was until he felt a chill go down his spine, a warning that he was being watched echoing in his mind. But who was watching him? He turned his head from side to side, seeing if he could find anyone hiding. When he didn't see anyone, he stood up slowly, his hand hovering over his sai.

"Hello?" he called out. "I know you're here!"

No one answered and no one stepped out, leaving Raph rather frustrated. The ninja sighed, crossing his arms. "Yo, I said I know you're-"

A group, who were the Foot, then quickly leapt out, knocking Raph to the ground. The turtle's head hit the hard ground, making stars appear in his vision. Raph managed to kick a few off strongly, making them fall on their knees near him. But before he could jump to his feet and run, a few more quickly dashed out, attacking.

Before they attacked, Raph could see how many there were, and that was quite a few, over twenty to be exact.

The large group rammed themselves into Raph, much to the turtle's attempts to fight back, which worked most of the time. They slammed him against a wall up on the roof, making the stars dance.

Raph swung his sais at them, hitting one in the arm, making the Foot ninja hiss in pain. But they then hit his head again even harder than last time, knocking Raph out cold. He fell forward, his sais falling out of his hands and clanking onto the rooftop.

The Foot ninjas looked towards one another, nodding their heads. One of them picked up Raph as if he were a worthless rag doll, throwing him over his shoulder, obviously not caring if he injured him. They then started to run, leaving Raph's sais behind them, along with the few knocked out Foot laying on the ground.

Raph had lost. It had happened so quickly, only a matter of a couple of minutes. And now his brothers had lost another. Another brother they had to save.

 **Author's note: Thanks so much for reading so far! I saw the reviews saying that Mikey didn't get enough roles and, don't worry! He will get more attention for sure :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Thief in the Night

Ch. 5

Searching

The Purple Dragons walked into the room where Shredder was, expectant to receive their hard earned money. They walked a little ways before kneeling down on one knee, bowing their heads and waiting for Shredder to speak to them. They heard the Shredder shift in his seat before he spoke.

"I have gotten word that you all have helped capture the second one." Shredder said, looking down at them.

"Yeah, we got him." Fong answered, looking up at the man.

"He was alone too." Sid added with a nod. "He was up on the rooftops by himself so we thought it would be the perfect moment to strike."

"I see." Shredder said. "Well done." He then snapped his fingers and his assistant, Tigerclaw, appeared with a black briefcase clutched in his paw. He handed it over to Shredder who slid it over to the group of thugs. "Here is your money. Fifteen grand."

Fong greedily opened the case, staring at the many stacks of one-hundred dollar bills. Tsoi picked one up and held it up to the light to see if it was legit. He nodded towards Fong, confirming it was indeed real and then put it back under the rubber band. The three guys stood up, closing the briefcase.

"It was a pleasure doing buisness with you, uh, Master Shredder." Fong said with a smirk, clutching the case of money tightly. "Finally those turtles will get what they deserve."

"Indeed they will." Shredder nodded. "Now go. I have no more use for you."

Fong just nodded in response to Shredder's statement and he and his two allies walked towards the door, which was being held open by a Foot member. They walked out, giving each other fist bumps and slaps on the back from a job well done. Then, the Foot ninja closed the door, leaving Shredder and Tigerclaw in the throne room alone.

"How will we get the other two, Master?" Tigerclaw asked, glancing over at him. He was curious. They had no idea where they lived, so how could they possibly capture them?

"The last two will be easier to catch." Shredder muttered. "Especially the purple one. He is the weakest out of them all. The orange one seems quick on his feet. We will need a bigger army to catch him."

"You will use the Foot soldiers to do this task?" Tigerclaw added. "And us?"

"Yes." Shredder replied. "This plan must be successful in order to crush Hamato Yoshi. His spirit will be broken if the only family he has left is destroyed right in front of his eyes. I will easily be able to defeat him then." Shredder then let out a chuckle at this, and Tigerclaw just nodded his head.

"I understand, Master." Tigerclaw said. "We will be sure to patrol every night to see if we can spot them."

"Yes, you will." Shredder answered, quickly glancing at the mutant tiger before looking back towards the door. "And later today...you make sure to do harm to the two captives."

Raph's eyes slowly fluttered open and a low groan escaped his lips due to his throbbing head. He had no idea where he was, he just felt like he was going somewhere. He then realized he was thrown over someone's shoulder and this person was walking. But who were they? And where were they going?

He soon realized that the person carrying him was a Foot soldier because of his uniform and the place he was in was dark and musty. He assumed it was where Shredder kept his prisoners. Raph made sure to scan around the area to see if he could find Leo. He most likely was here, after all. He'd seen the Foot take him.

But, he didn't see him. Maybe he was in one of the cells? He just hoped that he wasn't getting put into an opposite one than his brother. Brothers need to stick together, especially in a time like this.

Raph then felt the ninja stop and he heard the jingle of the familiar sound of keys. He knew that the door was being unlocked because he could hear the faint click of the key turning inside the key hole. Raph knew what was coming next, and he sure wasn't going to like it. And, just as he predicted, the ninja threw him into the room as if he were a worthless rag doll and another Foot ninja went in and chained his ankle to the wall, just so he wouldn't be able to attack or anything.

Then, the ninjas left and closed the heavy metal door, leaving Raph to get himself up. Leo looked over and saw Raph, his heart sinking when he figured out that Raph was here because of Shredder's plan. He scooted closer, seeing that the younger brother was rubbing the back of his head and putting himself on his knees.

"Raph." Leo whispered, looking at Raph.

"Leo?" Raph asked, looking up at the leader as he sat back. "So they did bring you here."

"Well, yeah." Leo answered. "Why are you here? Did you go topside?"

"Yeah, I did."

Leo's eyes widened and then narrowed quickly, a look of disapproval flashing over his features. "Raph! Are you insane! The Foot were-"

"Well how was I suppose to know?!" Raph answered, raising his voice a little. "We all thought they captured you to get us to go to them! Not them getting us! I went up topside to get some fresh air! I didn't even know they'd attack! I thought they were remaining here!"

Leo sighed and shook his head. He knew Raph had no way of knowing. After all, he had just found out what Shredder was planning to do yesterday before Raph was even captured too. Leo looked at the ground, hearing Raph sigh too.

"So, what's Shredder's plan, huh?" Raph asked. "It's obviously not good considering I'm here."

"You're right, it's not." Leo answered. "He's planning on getting us one by one to lure Sensei in. This is all a trap! He's wanting to hurt us so badly to the point where Splinter will be full of despair. Then, he wants to take him down and make us watch."

Raph shuddered. "We can't let that happen…" he whispered, letting those horrifying words sink in.

"Of course we can't…" Leo sighed. "I think he's going in birth order...that means...he wants to get Donnie next."

Raph stared ahead for a bit, not sure what to say. The thought of another one of his brothers in harms way was terrifying, especially if that person doing the harm was Shredder.

"When did you go topside?" Leo then asked, getting rid of the silence.

"I think it was a few minutes till eight." Raph answered, leaning his pounding head against the wall. "Why? Something up?"

"That's about the time they captured me, remember? We wanted to catch them at eight! There's gotta be some pattern here still!"

"So, you're saying if Donnie goes out at that time…"

Leo nodded. "Or before." he added. He sighed, hanging his head down and slowly closing his eyes. "I wish there was some way to warn him and Mikey...if they go looking for us, it has GOT to be way after eight."

Raph nodded. He wished he could find a way to warn them too. But, he knew that that was impossible. What he had to do now was focus on the situation he and his brother were both in and try to find a way to get out of it. Raph glanced over at Leo, noticing the wrappings around his upper arm for the first time.

"Did they hurt you?" Raph asked, concern creeping in his voice.

"Well, it's the Shredder's Lair." Leo answered, lifting his head up. "Don't worry. I took care of it." He then looked over at the red masked brother. "What about you? Are you alright?"

"Doing good besides the pounding in my head." Raph mumbled. "But what about eating, huh? Have you even eaten at all?"

Then, as if by cue, one of Shredder's henchmen, who was known as Rhazar, opened the metal door. He held something in his bony hand, but the two turtles couldn't make out what exactly the thing could be.

"Eat up, freaks." the mutant growled. "We can't let you die of starvation now can we?"

A tray was then slid over, which had just a small bowl of rice and a cup of water, which was pretty small as well. It was only just enough food to feed a child. "Have fun sharing such a puny meal." he chuckled.

The turtles then saw the door slam shut and they looked at the rice, afraid to eat it or even to touch it. What if they'd done something to it, like poisoned it or it was expired? What if it would make them sick? Getting sick was something that they could not afford at the moment and could delete any chance of escape. But, they had to eat. Raph looked over, and Leo looked back.

"Take it." Raph said. "When did you last eat?"

"Dinner...last night." Leo muttered quietly. "I'm not taking all of it. You need some too."

"The last time I ate was only a couple hours ago." Raph protested. "You haven't eaten in over twenty four hours. Just eat."

"Not until you eat some." Leo insisted.

Raph let out a huff, trying his very best not to yell at his brother. But, he knew he was also right. They both needed to be strong. So, Raph gave in. He picked up the spoon next to the small, paper bowl, filling the spoon with it. Just one spoonful was all he would allow himself to eat for the sake of making Leo shut up.

He put the rice in his mouth, only to wrinkle up his nose at the stale, bland, undercooked spoonful. The rice was somewhat crunchy but also chewy, which was very dissatisfying. But, it would have to do. It was food. He saw Leo gesture to the cup, telling him to take a sip.

So, Raph took a sip of the water, washing down the rice. Raph was done. He passed the tray to Leo, who looked at him with a slight glare.

"You gotta eat." Raph muttered. "You need it more than I do, okay? Now just eat."

Leo gave him one last stare before turning his head to the food tray. Whether he wanted to admit or not, his stomach begged for food and if he didn't get it soon, he'd be too weak to do anything. He picked up the bowl, eating the nasty rice spoonful by spoonful as Raph watched him out of the corner of his eye, making sure that he ate every last piece. Leo then drank some water afterwards, but left a little at the bottom, which gave him a look from Raph.

"Well?" Raph asked rather harshly. "You gonna drink it or not? And don't you dare tell me it's for me."

"No, Raph." Leo sighed. "It's for me. But I'm not going to drink it."

Raph's eyebrows furrowed, confusion growing more and more at every second. "What do ya mean by…"

"I mean I am using it to clean this bandage." Leo replied, gesturing towards the wrapping from his wrist around his arm. "I'm worse off if this cut gets infected. The least I can do is keep it clean."

Raph nodded at this, secretly wishing Donnie would poof out of nowhere and magically heal the wound. But, he knew that was physically impossible and be sure didn't want his younger brother here. And so, he watched as Leo removed the bloody wrapping from his arm and put water over it. He then saw him squeeze it out, just do it wouldn't be wet when he put it back on. He then set it on top of his leg to dry for a few minutes.

They sat in silence, listening to the natural sounds around the small room, like the water dripping from Leo's wrapping. They wanted to stay quiet for a bit, wanting to get as much of it as they could before Shredder came. But they both could not stop thinking about Mikey and Donnie. They were in trouble and there was no way to get them to know.

"What do we do…?" Raph whispered, his head tilted up to the ceiling.

"I don't know…" Leo whispered back, his brow arching in worry at those words. He hated saying them, especially if he was the one who was suppose to know the plans and what to do. He didn't know, but he wished he did with all his heart. He wished a plan would come up, a way of escaping, a way of communicating. But, there was absolutely nothing.

"I just don't know…"

Mikey glanced at his T-phone again, getting very worried at the time. It was almost ten at night, and Raph should've been back an hour ago. A nervous feeling grew in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that told him that something was definitely up. He looked over at Donnie and Splinter, who were still discussing how to put the map together. They seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Raph had not returned yet, but every now and again, they'd give a nervous glance over at Donnie's T-phone.

"Where is he?" Mikey asked, urgency creeping in his voice. "He should've been back, dude!"

"You know Raph." Donnie answered. "He must've ran into some gang members and decided to teach them a lesson. I'm sure he'll be home."

But Donnie was only trying to convince himself. He wanted to believe that Raph had gotten distracted and decided to beat up some thugs. But part of him told him that that wasn't the case. He let out a soft sigh as he hand hovered over the phone sitting next to him. He contemplated whether or not to call his brother. But, he knew that if Raph had ran into any trouble at all, he would've called. He always did.

"I'm going to try calling him…" he muttered, picking up his phone. "I know you've called him multiple times, Mikey. When was the last time you called him?"

"Uhh…" Mikey looked up at the ceiling, sticking his tongue out. "Twenty minutes ago?"

"It would not hurt to try again, I suppose." Splinter added, watching Donnie's finger hover over Raph's contact button. "Go ahead, Donatello."

Donnie nodded his head, lowering his finger on the button and then putting the phone on speaker. It rang once, twice. He half expected Raph to pick up, shouting at the number of missed calls he had.

Three rings. Four. Voice box. No one had answered. And so Donnie tried again, just in case, only to be just as disappointed as the last time.

"He's not answering." Donnie said softly as he slowly lowered the phone down. "Where do you think he is?" He thought about this for several minutes and no positive solutions came to mind. At this time, he was starting to think something bad happened.

"Could we go look, Master Splinter?" Mikey asked. "Please? Just for a little bit?"

Splinter sighed wearily as he glanced at the clock. It was a minute till ten and he knew that people were still bustling about. There was an outdoor concert going on, despite the cold weather. He looked back at his sons.

"Very well." Splinter replied. "Stay out for only a few hours. And be very careful; there are lots of people out tonight."

The two turtles nodded their heads and then instantly ran out and jumped over the turnstiles. They wanted to have as much time to look as possible. They ran through the sewer tunnels, looking for a manhole cover. When they found one, they quickly and carefully climbed up it, careful not to slip of course.

As soon as the reached topside, they could immediately hear the distant pulse of rock music. Donnie listened for a second, concluding it was to the east. But it wasn't far away, only a few miles. So they would have to be very cautious.

The turtles climbed up the fire escape and onto the rooftops, looking around for a second or two. Donnie let out a soft sigh, looking towards the night sky.

"Drat…" he muttered. "It's a new moon! There's no light."

"We can still see...right?" Mikey asked, feeling the hope drain from him.

"Yeah, but it'll be difficult." Donnie replied. "Let's get searching."

The two brothers searched around on the rooftops, trying their best not to make any noise so that the people below wouldn't hear them. The entire time they searched, Donnie couldn't help but think how stupid these people were to go to an outdoor concert in the winter time. But he shrugged it off eventually. His instincts told him they should be inside but that wasn't of his concern.

Besides that, he had Raph and Leo to worry about. He wondered what was happening to them and he could tell Mikey was wondering the same exact thing. He looked over, realizing they'd searched well over an hour already, though it didn't feel like it.

"I'm sure we'll find something." Donnie said with a small smile, trying to convince Mikey the best he was able. "Anything can help us at this point."

"But what if we don't find anything?" Mikey asked.

Donnie let out a soft exhale, mostly from stress. It was past eleven and he knew that this concert would go on for hours. "Then there's always tomorrow, right?"

He put on a sad grin, looking up at the sky to avoid Mikey's sad gaze. "We'll search for a few more hours. If we don't find anything, maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow. The moon will be at a waxing crescent, so there will at least be a little bit of light unlike tonight."

Mikey hung his head, letting out a sight his time. He nodded, despite him wanting to stay out all night. He knew Donnie was right though. They were already having to be extra cautious and there was no light out. Along with that, they would have to sleep at some point and Splinter wouldn't approve them staying out till dawn.

They heard hoots and hollers of excitement from the concert a few blocks away, hearing the thump of the rock music as well. They ran on, searching everywhere for some kind of clue, some kind of sign, anything at all.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours and before they knew it, it was a few minutes past two in the morning. People were just leaving the concert, being picked up in taxis and wandering around the sidewalks talking and babbling on about how drunk they were.

Mikey let out a yawn, stretching his arms up above his head. "Didn't find anything D…" he muttered sleepily.

"Yeah, we didn't." Donnie answered, feeling totally hopeless. He had hoped they'd find at least one thing. But they didn't, and that really upset him. He took one last glance down at the drunken teens and adults before he looked to Mikey again.

"Alright…" he sighed. "Let's head back home…"

Mikey nodded and they both started shuffling back to their home, trying to avoid being spotted in the meantime. They hung their heads and didn't say a word, too tired and upset to do fancy flips over the gaps of the rooftops.

They knew when they got home, Master Splinter would be waiting for them, anxious for some good news. But they would have none to deliver.

 **Author's Note: Hey everyone! I'm really sorry for putting such a long pause on this. I have been so so busy with work and other things. Along with that, I haven't really been feeling the greatest emotion-wise. So, sorry for taking so long. I'll try to have Ch.6 posted up as soon as I can.**

 **~Trip**


	6. Chapter 6

Thief in the Night

Ch. 6

Pain Will Come

The whole time Donnie and Mikey were searching, Leo and Raph sat and waited. There were waiting for the Shredder to come in at any moment, since he most likely would. They just sat and looked out the tiny window at the far end of the room.

Not much light could be seen due to them being on the last floor but a few city lights shone through, helping give the two turtles some light to see, even though it was dim.

Raph let out a loud huff, stretching his legs in front of him. His muscles were getting stiff from sitting and he desperately wanted to walk around. But, he knew he wouldn't be able to walk far. So he stayed put. He stared at the dark ceiling, listening to the sound of he and Leo breathing softly.

"What time do you think it is?" Leo asked quietly, keeping his voice low so no one would hear.

"How could I know?" Raph huffed. "Not like I have my T-phone on me. They took it."

"They took mine too." Leo answered. He then stayed quiet for a moment, listening to his brother's chains clink as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position that didn't make him sore. "It's probably in the wee hours of the morning."

"No kidding." Raph replied sarcastically. "How does that help us?"

"Well, maybe since it's so early, no one will be outside. If we can escape-"

"Escape?" Raph interrupted as he let out a dry laugh. "There's no possible way we could do that unless you want to get your sorry shell handed to ya!"

"There just might be a way!" Leo snapped back. "We just need to strategize."

Raph pressed his lips to a thin line and clenched his fists, trying his best not to shout. He rolled his green eyes and let out a groan, looking towards his brother with a look of annoyance.

"And what do you think I've been doing these past however the heck many hours?" Raph answered, narrowing his eyes. "Guards at the door, tiny window, no phones, no weapons, chains on our ankles. We CAN'T get out!"

"I'm sure we-"

Leo's sentence was then interrupted when the turtles heard footsteps in the hall as well as angry shouts and commands. They looked at each other and then back at the door. They knew what was coming. One last angry shout rang out before a click was heard and then a squeak as the door quickly swung open.

Shredder stood at the doorframe, looking at the turtles with pure amusement showing in his posture. He slowly strided over to where they were sitting, staring down at them coldly.

"Turtles." Shredder said. "It is so much better to see two here now instead of just one. It will be a lot more fun now to hear twice the amount of screams."

Raph glared up at the man, which made Shredder laugh. But Raph decided not to say anything for it was best for now. He saw Shredder glance over at Leo before looking to Raph again.

"It will be so much better with that genius brother of yours in my clutches as well."

Raph gritted his teeth and anger rose inside him like fire burning down a forest. Spreading and spreading.

"You leave my brothers alone." Raph snarled. "Or I'll find a way to make sure you end up crying for mercy."

This sentence caused Raph to get a strong blow to the jaw, causing his head to snap back and hit the cement well behind him. His head started to throb again like it had hours earlier and he hated it. He then felt Shredder grab the front of his plastron and roughly pull him to his feet. He then felt cold metal touch his throat as the Shredder took out his gauntlet.

"I believe you are wrong." Shredder answered, his eyes narrowing. He struck Raph in the face, making sure to cut his cheek. It wasn't a deep cut, but it was enough for it to bleed.

Leo cringed as he saw the blade swipe across Raph's cheek. He quickly jumped to his feet to try to stop what Shredder was doing but was instantly punched by Tigerclaw, who was standing by Shredder. Leo fell back on the ground, already feeling a bruise form where the mutant tiger had punched him.

Raph turned his head back to Shredder, his anger at the danger level. If he could punch this sick man right in the face, he would. But one, Shredder was wearing his signature mask and would feel no pain by it and two, Raph would get a punishment much worse than a punch to the face. So all he could do was shoot daggers with his angry glare.

"Or maybe that orange one." Shredder said, trying to get Raph even angrier. "I wonder how long it'll take him to finally break."

"Leave him out of this." Raph growled through gritted teeth.

Leo was becoming angry too at the fact that Shredder was taunting them by saying how he was going to capture their other two brothers. His fists clenched tightly and he looked up at the man with pure disgust.

"You may have gotten Raph and I but I will make sure you do not capture the rest!" Leo shouted, surprised what was coming out of his own mouth. He thought he sounded just like his hot-headed brother which startled him. "Your plan will FAIL!"

Shredder whacked Leo strongly on his face, the same spot Tigerclaw had hit him. The move was so fast, so sudden, that Leo wasn't even able to predict it. His head flew back and his body hit the ground as he let out a grunt of pain. Shredder sped-walked over to where he lay, raising his fist to take another blow at the leader.

"Hey!" Raph shouted as he jumped to his feet, just like Leo had done earlier. He raced forward only to be stopped by Tigerclaw. The tiger kicked him in the gut, sending him down on his back. Raph felt the air go out of him as his shell hit the floor, and he gasped as he tried to get a deep breath. Tigerclaw then kicked him in the side for good measure and then went back to where Shredder stood.

Shredder stepped away from Leo, who still looked the same, other than a few new bruises he had. He looked to Raph and then Leo, smiling behind his metal mask.

"I am being generous." Shredder said, watching the two turtles get themselves back into a sitting position. "In a few hours you will see what real pain will be like."

Uneasiness crept inside the two turtles to replace the bubbling anger they had felt earlier. They knew Shredder was planning on hurting them badly. But, they knew as soon as they captured Donnie, he would see them beaten and they didn't want that to be the first sight Donnie saw.

"Be prepared, turtles." Shredder then said, heading towards the door once again. Tigerclaw cast one last glance over his shoulder before he opened the door, holding it open for Shredder to walk through. Then, Tigerclaw left and the door was shut.

As soon as Tigerclaw left, Raph let out a grunt of anger, slamming his fist into the cement ground once. Leo looked over in concern, but knew his hotheaded brother just needed to let off some steam. It was then silent, and Raph just sat staring at the ground and holding his fist with his other hand.

Leo let out a soft sigh, listening to Raph's angry breathing. "You okay?" he asked.

Raph rolled his eyes, turning his head away from his brother. "It's just a scratch." he mumbled. "It'll heal."

Leo knew he was talking about his face and not his hand, which probably had a scratch on it from punching the ground. Leo knew very well that the wound would heal, but it would take time. But he also knew nothing he would say would calm Raph down. His brother would have to calm down himself.

Raph rested his head against the wall, letting his breathing go back to normal. He then let out a soft exhale, removing his fist from his hand.

"What're we going to do about this?" Raph asked. "If we're too injured, how will we ever have a chance to escape?"

Leo echoed the soft exhale, wringing his hands. He opened his mouth to speak, but Raph wasn't finished.

"And how in the world could we ever get Mikey and Donnie to stay out of this? Like you said earlier, we can't do ANYTHING!"

Leo pressed his lips together, stretching his legs in front of him. "I...I know." he softly answered. "We can't do anything. I'm suppose to be the leader, Raph. I'm suppose to protect my family. But I'm not!"

"You can't do anything about it, Leo." Raph replied.

"I know I can't." Leo sighed. "And that makes it worse."

They then fell silent, Leo's last sentence leaving a thick tension in the room. Dread weighed over them as the thoughts of Shredder's plans of getting their genius brother next played in their minds. They couldn't let this happen. But, at the same time, it had to.

They couldn't do anything to fix it.

Donnie and Mikey slowly made their way down the ladder into the sewer tunnel. Their shoulders had fallen, they shuffled their feet. They were very upset with not finding any clues at all tonight. But, they still had some hope since they'd be searching again tomorrow.

They were both exhausted from little sleep the night before due to Leo's disappearance. They knew they had to get some rest in order to continue their search, but, they also knew the worry and stress would make it very difficult.

Donnie looked over to Mikey as they trudged through the murky sewer water, noticing that his usually happy-go-lucky brother was down in the dumps.

"Hey, don't be sad." Donnie said, forcing a small grin on his face. "Everything will turn up in the end! I'm sure of it!"

"I'm just worried about them…" Mikey replied, keeping his gaze on the water.

"Trust me, I am too." Donnie answered. "But, we do have some idea of where they are."

"Oh?"

"Yeah! The Foot soldiers took Leo so they most likely took Raph too, which most likely means that Shredded has them. And knowing the Shredder, he isn't going to move his location just yet since he wants Splinter to come to him."

"We can't let him get Splinter!" Mikey gasped, looking over to Donnie.

"Exactly, which is why you and I would go with him, possibly even the Mutanimals if we can reach them."

"But...what if we can't?"

"We'll have to fight to the best of our ability then, I guess."

The two stayed quiet the rest of the way home, except from the occasional whimper from Mikey. They finally reached the Lair, tired and upset. What made them feel worse was that they saw Splinter sitting in the Pit, awaiting their return.

As soon as he heard them come in, he stood up from his seat, looking at the turtles with a look that said he hoped they had good news.

"Did you find anything?" Splinter asked them, hiding the anxiousness in his voice.

Donnie let out a soft sigh, shaking his head. "No, Sensei…" he replied, looking at the ground. "We didn't find anything."

Splinter's face instantly went from neutral to upset in just a matter of a few seconds. He looked at the ground himself for a minute or so before looking back up, seeing his sons were just as saddened as he was.

"Do not fret, my sons." Splinter said after the moment of silence. "We shall make a plan and find your brothers."

"We have a plan." Donnie answered. "Mikey and I are planning on going out tomorrow right at dusk to see if there is anything we missed."

Splinter nodded his head in response, sitting himself back down.

"Then I wish you the best of luck in finding something." He looked up at them, determination replacing his sad expression. "But until then, we must make a plan on how to free them. We simply can not just rush in not thinking."

"Donnie said we should try to get the Mutanimals to help." Mikey added in.

"The more people we have on our side the better." Splinter answered with a dip of his head.

"We do know that the Foot most likely have them which means Shredded has them." Donnie said. "Though he could've hid them somewhere specific, somewhere different."

"Knowing the Shredder, he is staying right where he is in order to get me to go to him. This is an obvious trap, my sons, with your brothers involved." Splinter's eyes narrowed. "You two must be cautious tomorrow night."

"Understood." Donnie replied as he and Mikey nodded.

"Good." Splinter sighed. "Now, get some rest. You both will need energy to continue on tomorrow."

"Hai, Sensei." Donnie and Mikey answered in unison.

And with that, the two headed up the stairs near the Pit to go into their rooms. They turned their heads briefly as they walked, seeing their Sensei go into the dojo to get some rest of his own.

"How can I rest when Leo and Raph are with the Shredder right now?" Mikey asked. "Why can't we just...barge in and…"

"You know we can't do that." Donnie muttered. "Even though we know where they are, we don't know what location in the building they're in and along with that, just simply bathing inside will get us in trouble and we can't have that with Leo and Raph in trouble."

"I know…" Mikey signed. "I can't rest though."

"You'll have to try. We can't save our brothers if we're exhausted, right?"

"Y-yeah…"

Donnie gave his brother a reassuring pat on the shell and then turned to his door and Mikey did the same. But Donnie paused before he grabbed his doorknob and Mikey sensed his brother wanted to say something else, so he paused too, waiting for Donnie to speak.

"Just stay strong Mikey." Donnie said quietly. "Stay strong for Leo and Raph."

"Okay, D." Mikey answered, looking behind his shoulder at him. "I'll try."

He then turned his doorknob and stepped inside his room, closing his door silently behind him.

Donnie let out a muffled sigh, staring at his reflection in his doorknob. He was telling Mikey to stay strong but he was having a hard time staying strong himself. He was scared of what could be happening to his brothers and he didn't know what to do. He had to let it slide now. He was the planner, and he couldn't plan if all his mind thought about was worries.

He didn't know how much longer his mind would be strong for him.

It was past four am. Leo and Raph had managed to close their eyes and get themselves into a state where they were almost asleep, but they could never get fully asleep.

Leo slowed his breathing, trying to get himself into a sleeping state. Raph, however, wasn't. His anger wasn't allowing him to. Leo opened one eye, glancing over at Raph, sensing his frustration.

"Can't sleep?" he asked.

"Can't see how you're even trying." Raph huffed.

Leo shrugged his shoulders, leaning his head back. "Better to try than do nothing, right?"

Raph shifted his position. "Yeah, cause when you're angry, having a nice, peaceful sleep is amazing."

"Have an attitude like that and you'll never get sleep." Leo replied.

"Getting sleep is the least of my worries." Raph growled.

"I know…"

"Just because we get rest and are energized doesn't mean we can warn our brothers! We're still in the same situation! We'll just be more awake for when Shredder beats us to a pulp!"

"Raph-"

"And don't tell me you're not worried, Leo! Who knows what he'll do?! He could easily-"

"I AM worried! I KNOW what Shredder can do!" Leo snapped. "Shredder WILL take this chance to hurt us very badly so-"

At that moment, they both heard the door start to open. Their hearts sank inside their chests, their breath stopping in worry. This was it.

Shredder opened the door and stepped inside with two Foot ninjas beside him. He looked over at the turtles, smirking behind his mask.

"The time has come." he said. "Time for you turtles to feel real pain!"

He then unleashed his gauntlet.

 **Author's Note: Sorry again for me uploading so late again! Things are finally starting to calm down a little bit so I at least have a tiny bit more time to write. Anyway, enjoy!**


	7. Chapter 7

Thief in the Night Ch.7

Trap

Shredder headed over to the two turtles, his eyes landing on Leo first. He smirked from under his mask, grabbing Leo by the front of his shell and pulling him to his feet roughly. He stared into his eyes, his gaze full of revenge.

"Finally I can get revenge on you." Shredder growled. "I can finally destroy Hamato Yoshi's sons freely."

Leo glared at him, tempted to fight. But he knew he wouldn't be able to fight well due to his ankle being shackled.

"Put my brother down you freak." Raph said, his voice rumbling furiously. He was about to jump up and attack at any second if he was able.

Shredder only laughed at Raph's comment, making Leo wince from the sudden loud noise.

"Foolish turtle." Shredder laughed. "You can do nothing!"

His fist connected with Leo's stomach, making the blue masked turtle let out a grunt. Shredder didn't even pause after the blow and swiped his gauntlet at Leo's leg.

Leo let out a yell, feeling the blade pierce his skin. He looked down, seeing blood trickling down his thigh onto the cement floor. He then looked up at the Shredder, his anger rising more and more. Before Shredder could hit him again, Leo struck back.

With a yell, Leo jumped at Shredder, tackling him on the floor. He punched at his face, but Shredder's armor block most of them.

Raph stared in shock, surprised that Leo actually attacked. Knowing his brother, he thought the leader would just tough it out. He watch Leo hit the Shredder over and over, but he wasn't causing any damage. Raph then saw the Foot ninjas heading Leo's way to pull him off but Raph was determined to win. He jumped up and with the short length he had on his chain, tackled one of the ninjas.

Shredder threw off Leo and rose to his feet just as Raph tackled the Foot ninja.

Leo put himself on his knees, watching the incident. He then rose to his feet, wanting so badly to jump in and help. But his chain let him go no further. Shredder turned to him, much angrier than before.

"You will pay for that, turtle!" he yelled. His fist flew forward, connecting with Leo's jaw, sending the turtle on his knees again.

Leo lifted his head up, seeing that the Shredder was now heading towards Raph. Before the man could reach his brother though, the Foot ninjas threw the red masked turtle off of them. The Foot ninjas then rose to their feet, taking out the katanas from the holders on their backs.

Leo held his breath, watching his brother get on his knees. He wasn't sure what they were going to do but he had an idea. Leo couldn't break with pain. But watching his brothers go through it, that's what broke him the most. And Shredder knew that. He knew the only way to break the leader was to make his family suffer. The other three would break eventually from the suffering they'd endure.

Leo's eyes widened as he nodded towards the ninjas who had their weapons out. They charged towards Raph, their swords at the ready. Then, Leo saw a glint as the metal swung in the air and hit Raph's arm.

Raph let out a shout, but not too loud. He wasn't going to let Shredder hear a scream. The ninja who now had his sword in Raph's arm started to pull it downward, making Leo flinch where he sat.

The leader tugged at his chains, desperately wanting to be free. "Stop it!" he yelled, tugging harder. "Attack me! Attack me instead!"

Shredder simply chuckled to himself, sending a chill down Leo's spine. How could a man be so heartless to not care? How could someone laugh at something like this?

Raph gritted his teeth as the sword was slowly dragged down his arm. He could tell the ninja wasn't even bothering to avoid arteries. He let out a gasp as the Foot ninja ripped the sword out, but, of course, he still refuse to scream. He looked down at his arm, seeing the cut was from a few inches under his shoulder blade to where his elbow pad was. The blood trickled down, dripping onto the floor. Seeing his blood coming out of him like so was making him furious.

Leo just sat in horror, still continuing to pull at his chains, despite him knowing his attempts would fail. The Foot ninja approached his brother again and raised his fist. He couldn't let Shredder do this to his family, no way. His eyes narrowed in anger and he clenched his fists and then let out a yell of pure rage.

He flung himself at the Shredder, his chain stopping him. But he tried again, only to be stopped again. He saw the ninja punch Raph square in the face and his red masked brother dropped to his knees. He tried to get up to fight back but was kicked back down by the Shredder himself.

He looked over at Leo, who was still desperately trying to make the chain loosen just a little. Leo must've been expecting a miracle if he wanted that to happen. The chain was fasten securely on the cement wall. Unless he had super strength, there was no way he was ever going to rip that chain out of the wall. He slowly walked over to the leader, amused by his desperate struggling. He crouched down so that he could look the mutant in the face.

"You will always fail, turtle." Shredder said, keeping his voice low. "Do not try. I will win and you can not do anything about it!"

Leo frowned and narrowed his eyes more so that his glare met the evil man's eyes. "Evil will never win." he panted, his words full of venom. "It never will!"

"It already has." Shredder replied, letting out a devilish laugh. He rose to his feet and snapped his fingers at the Foot ninjas, signaling them to put away their weapons.

"Later tonight your genius brother will be in the hands of the Foot Clan." he sneered, watching his ninjas sheath their katanas. "And the first thing he shall see is blood on this cement floor." He nodded towards the Foot ninjas and they quickly filed out through the door without a word. And, with one last laugh, Shredder strided to the heavy door and slammed it shut.

Leo flinched from the loud sound and then listened to see if anyone would come back. After several seconds, he heard no one. The coast was clear. He crawled on his hands and knees towards Raph, grunting occasionally due to the cut on his leg. Raph looked over, not saying a word to his brother.

"Let me see." Leo ordered.

"It's fine, Leo I'll live." Raph protested.

"Just let me see." Leo repeated, his tone note firm this time.

Raph sighed and eventually gave in, showing his injury on his arm to Leo.

Leo looked it over, his expression full of worry. He knew it was bleeding a lot and with enough time, Raph could either bleed out or the gash could get terribly infected. He looked up at Raph, pressing his lips into a thin line.

"That bad, huh?" Raph muttered.

Leo just sighed in reply, not really knowing what to say. "Take off your mask. You need to stop the bleeding." he then said.

"Just my mask won't do much, Leo."

"Exactly, so you should use some wraps on your wrist too. It's cleaner than the ones on your feet."

"Cleaner than Mikey's…" Raph grumbled, untying his red mask from his face. He tied the mask on the top part of his arm, since it couldn't fit over the whole wound. He then unwrapped part of his wrist wrappings, carefully wrapping it over his mask and on the part that had not been covered yet. He still had maybe a foot of wrapping left, but he'd keep it just in case.

"What about your leg?" he asked.

"It's...not as bad as your arm." Leo sighed. "Just worry about that for now."

"Yeah and your leg could get infected just like my arm could." Raph said, narrowing his eyes.

"Just don't worry about it." Leo answered.

Silence washed over them for a few moments before one of them let out a soft sigh, which happened to be Raph. Leo heard Raph letting out soft grunts of pain and could hear the clinking on his chain as his brother tried to change his position. He looked over, seeing Raph trying to hold it together. He knew Raph would never admit that his arm hurt like heck. So Leo just looked at the truth in his features.

"We gotta escape." he grumbled, resting his head against the wall.

"I know." Leo answered. "But most importantly, survive."

"Well, duh." Raph scoffed.

"In order to do that, we need at least three things."

"Okay?"

"First, we need food. Any kind of food." Leo started.

"Of course, Captain Obvious. The last time we ate was...yesterday."

"I think it was a little past eight too. Because as soon as they brought you here, food was delivered soon after."

"And what time do you think it is now?" Raph asked.

"Judging by the position of the moon...maybe five am?"

"And the sun will rise later now because it's winter...stupid winter." Raph rolled his eyes. "So how long have we not eaten?"

"Judging by all that the last time we are was...uh…" Leo added it up in his head, trying to as fast as he could. He wasn't as good at numbers as Donnie but he was at least decent. "About nine hours?"

"Well my stomach is telling me it's breakfast." Raph mumbled.

"Second, we need water."

"Duh."

"Not just for drinking purposes but to also clean our bandages to avoid a quick infection."

"True." Raph answered with a nod.

"They are going after Donnie next and since they made us share food and water...they'd make all three of us share it which will be more difficult. We probably wouldn't have water left over to wash out the wraps."

"IF they get Donnie." Raph corrected. "It was already hard enough for us two to split."

"Exactly. So we need to plan how to split with three of us and all four of us. Just in case. That way, we get decent and equal rations."

"And last?"

"We try our best not to get these wounds infected quickly. Infection would get us sick and being sick will make it hard to escape."

"Not only that but we could die from it." Raph grimly added.

"Uhh…" Leo trailed off. "Y-yeah."

"So what do we do? Not like Shredder will happily patch us up or anything."

"He may do just that, actually." Leo replied. "He may have his Foot ninjas patch up our wounds and clean them just so they ain't get infected. After all, he wants us to die slowly. He wants us to die in his hands, not infections."

"...that's sick."

Leo just simply nodded in response to this.

"So...what can we do about this?"

"For now, nothing. We just have to survive and wait. That's...all we can do."

Mikey and Donnie didn't get much sleep that night. They only managed to sleep for a few hours but dread kept them up the rest of the night. They woke up early at seven, when they usually got up late since they were teens after all, and Mikey made them all breakfast. Splinter came out of his dojo about half an hour later and joined them.

They all ate slowly, everyone too worried about their family to worry about food. The day dragged on, all of them anxious for sundown. During the day though, they planned things out, despite the plan mostly being made last night. If they found any clues, they'd take it back to the Lair to their Sensei and be careful not to have anyone follow them. If they didn't, they'd have bad news to tell.

Donnie tried calling Leo and Raph's T-phones in his lab to see if they'd get any answers at all. But they went straight to voicemail every time so he assumed that they were either dead or broken. Broken seemed like the best option considering the Foot clan would've gladly smashed any form of communication. Time to make more T-phones, I guess.

The purple banded turtle sighed, looking at the clock near him to see it was two o'clock. Only a few more hours till sundown. But he knew those hours would drag on like molasses. He sat down, swiveling in his office chair and cupping his chin in his palms. He then rubbed his temples, letting out a groan of exhaustion. He closed his stinging eyes, leaning his head back in his seat. Maybe if he got a short nap in he' feel more refreshed…

But his nap was soon interrupted by shouting in his ear and a hand shaking his shoulder.

"D! Hey! Dude! What're you doin?"

"Ugh, Mikey…" Donnie groggily groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "I was trying to take a short nap…"

"Well apparently you did 'cause the sun is setting soon bro!"

Donnie whipped his head around to his clock seeing it was now four forty. Two hours and forty minutes had passed. But gosh did that nap feel great.

"You're right. The sun should start setting in about twenty minutes since it's winter." Donnie nodded. He stood up and cracked his stiff neck, Mikey watching the whole time. "Alright, let's pack up."

They both went out into the living room area, grabbing anything they thought they'd need. Donnie made sure to bring his T-phone as well as Mikey and they both packed a handful of throwing stars. Mikey even put a few smoke bombs in his belt for good measure. They put their weapons in their holders and hid pocket knives in their wraps. They were all set just in case they would get attacked.

Splinter watched them the whole time, asking them if they brought certain items, only to get "yes"'s the whole time. His sons frantically scurried about until they were ready to leave. The mutant rat motioned them to come over to him, just so he could give them some encouraging words. The two turtles walked over and bowed to their Sensei, and Splinter bowed back.

"You both must be very careful out there." Splinter advised. "You do not know what kind of dangers will be out there. Stay watchful."

"No problemo, Sensei!" Mikey replied, putting on a signature grin. "We've got it all covered!"

"If you run into danger and you are outnumbered, you must run away. Run back to the Lair but do not let anyone follow you."

"Hai, Sensei." they both said in unison.

"Good." Splinter answered with a dip of his head. "Good luck, my sons."

And with that, the two ran out of the Lair towards the manhole covers so they could have as much time as possible to search. They went to the first manhole cover they could find and started climbing up the ladder. They had fresh hope, hope that they would find some clues and know for certain that they were being kept in the area they were assuming.

"Alright, so let's start somewhere different today. We obviously didn't find anything over that way," Donnie said as he pointed in the direction. "So let's try just going straight forward this time?"

"Sounds fine to me." Mikey answered. Anywhere that would lead them to conclude their suspicions would be wonderful, even if it meant digging through dumpsters. He didn't care.

They began to jump across the rooftops, stopping at each one to look through it. They searched it top to bottom. They looked behind things, under things, above things, everywhere. They couldn't leave one thing in that roof untouched. If they didn't find something, they'd jump to the next roof and repeat the process.

"How long have we been out here, D?" Mikey whined, his adrenaline obviously wearing out due to no excitement.

"Only ten minutes, Mikey." Donnie replied, looking behind his shoulder at his brother. "Come on, let's stay out till midnight at least! That gives us a little less than six hours! That's plenty of time to find something!"

"I hope we do find something." Mikey answered solemnly.

Donnie spun his body around so he was facing his brother. He put one hand on his shoulder, forcing a tiny grin on his face. "We'll find SOMETHING." Donnie said enthusiastically. "I just know we will! I can feel it!"

Donnie's grin was apparently contagious because Mikey put on one of his signature smiles. "You think so?" he asked, his voice now full of hope.

"You betcha." Donnie replied, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Now come on, we still have a few miles to go." He turned himself around and continued to speed walk, Mikey following right beside him. The lanky turtle glanced at his T-phone every now and again to check the time, like if he didn't check the time, the time would speed by like a racecar. It's like he had to check it to make sure it wouldn't escape him.

Mikey could sense what Donnie was feeling. He was smarter than his brothers usually made him out to be. He could know what someone was feeling by just looking at them, and at the moment, Donnie was feeling nervous and confused. Donnie knew that if they DID find some clues, they just may know for sure that Leo and Raph really were being held by the Shredder. But, then they had to figure out if they were at his usual hideout or if they were hiding somewhere else, like an old shed or the basement of a building. But, Master Splinter did say Shredder probably was keeping them in his usual area, since the Shredder was obviously doing this to get to Splinter, after all.

But, if they didn't find anything at all, they'd have to barge in to Shredder's lair with no way of knowing. They wouldn't know if Raph got killed on the roof or where he was when he fought. If they knew where he was when the Foot ninjas ambushed him, maybe, just maybe, the Foot will find them again and the turtles could get answers out them by force. Either choice made both Mikey and Donnie nervous because either choice meant they would have to find the Shredder and get past him.

They had jumped across a few more rooftops, not finding anything at any of them. It wasn't until an hour later that they found a rooftop that was completely trashed. They jumped across the gap and landed on the roof, taking it all in.

A couple of corpses laid on the rooftop, bloody and bruised. They were Foot ninjas. This made Donnie's heart skip a beat. What if they found some important information?

"Woah, D!" Mikey gasped, his eyes falling on the dead ninjas. "What do you think happened?"

"By the looks of it, it possibly could've been an ambush." Donnie answered, turning his head towards Mikey. "And Raph may have been involved." He saw Mikey's lips press together in a thin line. He was nervous, he could tell. "So, let's see if we can find anything."

The two began search, avoiding the bodies. They were not planning on touching them but they knew they had to look under them or in their pockets to find something, anything. Donnie told Mikey to look on the other side and that left him to search the ninjas. He dug in their pockets, finding things like ninja stars and tiny throwing knives. He saw they had the Foot symbol on them, which he knew would be on there. But was Shredder really at his normal place?

Donnie dug in another pocket of the second ninja, finding an untraceable cell phone, probably what he used to contact the Shredder, or someone from the Foot. Donnie easily unlocked it, since it was a cheap phone with no passcode. All this phone had was a texting option and a phone calling option. He'd sort through this guy's texts first, but the phone only had ten percent left so he had to hurry. He lowered the brightness on the phone, just so he could conserve the battery and then began scrolling.

 **Stinkman: Yesterday, 8:12 PM:** _I assume you captured him?_

Donnie still found it odd that they were texting. But maybe the Foot were trying something new. He shrugged, continuing to read.

 **You: Yesterday, 8:12 PM:** _Yes, we are about to head back, Stockman._

Donnie assumed this guy had been speaking into his phone. Shredder was probably leaving Stockman to do all the techy texting stuff, of course. And the fact that this Foot soldier had named his contact Stinkman was quite humorous.

 **Stinkman: Yesterday, 8:13 PM:** _Good, bring him back here. You remember where our place is right? You are only a new recruit after all._

 **You: Yesterday, 8:14 PM:** _Somewhat._

 **Stinkman: Yesterday, 8:16 PM:** _Figure it out. You have plenty of other guys with you. It's the same place as usual, you can find it._

 **You: Yesterday, 8:16 PM:** _Right. And we have casualties._

Like Stockman or Shredder would care.

 **Stinkman: Yesterday, 8:17 PM:** _Like Shredder cares? Report back here now._

 **You: Yesterday, 8:18 PM:** _We're almost there._

Donnie put the phone in his belt, just to search it later for more evidence. He then heard Mikey urgently calling him, fear showing in his voice. He got up from his crouch, speed walking over. "What is it?" he asked, seeing Mikey crouched on the ground next to something.

The purple banded turtle kneeled next to his brother, looking at the thing Mikey had been sniffling about. In his younger brother's hands lay one of Raph's sai, looking completely untouched. There was no dents or blood. It looked just like it normally did.

"Well, now we know that Raph was definitely captured by the Foot…" Donnie muttered, feeling his heartbeat increase.

"Is...is he with Leo?" Mikey whimpered.

"Possibly." Donnie answered.

Mikey nodded his head, letting out a sniffle. But Donnie continued to look around with his eyes. Something wasn't right, not at all. He couldn't shake off the bad feeling that was rising inside him.

"Does this...seem off to you?" Donnie asked, taking his attention away from the sai in Mikey's hands for a moment.

"Uh...I don't know…" Mikey answered, his quiet voice trailing off.

Donnie continued to study the area, his suspicious feeling growing more and more. When the Foot committed a crime, which they always did, they'd clean up the evidence so that the crime wouldn't get traced back to them by the turtles. So why would they not clean anything now? Why would they leave two corpses in the roof rotting away? Why didn't they pick up the throwing stars? Why would they leave drops of blood on the ground? It made no sense. It was like they were WANTING to get in trouble. Unless…

"Think about it. Why would the Foot leave evidence just...sitting out?" Donnie asked.

"I know, dude. Are they WANTING to get caught?" Mikey chuckled.

"Wanting to…" Donnie's voice trailed off and he stared ahead, absolutely speechless. He had eventually stared off for so long that Mikey had started waving his hand in front of his face.

"Uhh...D?" Mikey asked, waving his large hand and cocking his head. "Don't be going into fantasy land, dude. That's my thing."

"Sorry." Donnie mumbled. "But I know EXACTLY why they are keeping all this here, why none of it has been picked up." He stood to his feet and Mikey followed suit, shoving Raph's sai in a loop on his belt.

"Oh?" Mikey questioned.

"They always, and I mean ALWAYS come to clean their evidence." Donnie explained. "They're leaving it here for a reason. They WANTED us to come here, Mikey! They wanted us to search for clues! Have you noticed a pattern these past two days?"

Mikey simply shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't sure if there was a pattern or not.

"We all fought on the rooftop the first night." Donnie continued. "They had the perfect opportunity to capture all four of us a few times! But, they didn't! They only captured one."

"Leo…" Mikey whispered.

"Exactly. And the second night it was Raph. Same time too, I think. Think about it. This is going in birth order. If I was born first, they would've gotten me two days ago. They wouldn't have gotten Raph yesterday if he wasn't born second. They are looking for the third born Mikey. That's me."

"What?!" Mikey gasped. "N-no, Donnie! I can't be alone!"

"Don't worry!" Donnie said gently, putting his hand on Mikey's shoulder. "We're going to fight together okay?" He looked at the Foot soldier's phone that he had taken out of his belt, putting it towards Mikey. "If I get captured tonight, you NEED to take this. This has all kinds of evidence in it."

"But Donnie! What if I get captured? What then?"

"They...they will want me today. You tomorrow." Donnie sighed.

Mikey let out a whimper, throwing his arms around Donnie's torso. "No Donnie! Please don't go!" he wailed.

"Hey, I never said in leaving for sure." Donnie answered. This was making him feel depressed. He wanted to tell Mikey that he was going to go home with him but he honestly didn't know that for a fact himself. A gut twisting feeling was lingering, telling him he would have to spend the night somewhere else other than his bed.

Mikey opened his mouth to protest something else but before he could, they both heard Foot ninjas climbing up the building and jumping over to their rooftop. Mikey quickly grabbed the phone from his brother's hand, shoving it in his pocket like Donnie had told him to do. They took out their weapons, standing back to back from each other in order to look out for one another.

The Foot ninjas surrounded them in a circle, swinging weapons of their own. Donnie counted them all in a matter of seconds, nervous to find that there were over thirty ninjas, and there were probably more hiding in the shadows to strike at a later time. This was going to be tough for sure. He and Mikey both knew that.

Then, a few of the Foot charged towards them.

 **Authors note: Woah, I'm sorry I haven't uploaded in so dang long! I meant to have this uploaded before summer ended but I didn't end up getting it done. Then school started and I didn't have much time so I finally got a chance to work on it and finish it. So, sorry for the long wait, guys! Hopefully chapter 8 will be uploaded much sooner haha! Also, feel free to leave a review telling me how I'm doing so far :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Thief in the Night Ch. 8

Three down…

Donnie and Mikey were ready for this attack. They already had their weapons out and were deflecting the attacks the Foot ninjas would give. Each of them would check over their shoulders briefly every few seconds to check on each other but would quickly turn back around to avoid getting hit.

This whole time, Mikey was very serious, which was odd considering it was Mikey. He wanted to make sure the Foot did not get his brother, because, after all, it scared him to death thinking he'd be alone. He wouldn't know what to do.

"There's so many, dude!" Mikey shouted, slicing a Foot ninja with the blade part of his nunchucks. The enemy fell down motionless by Mikey's feet, obviously dying or dead already. Mikey did not seem to notice, though. He was busy fighting off the swarm of soldiers coming towards him and his brother.

"Tell me about it!" Donnie yelled back, hitting a ninja on the head with his staff. "More and more keep coming!"

And Donnie was correct. When a Foot ninja fell, one was always lurking in the shadows, ready to replace him. There were still around thirty or so, and Donnie and Mikey both knew that they wouldn't be able to keep this up forever, unless they attempted an escape, which was unlikely, since the Foot were surrounding them on all sides.

"What are we going to do?" Mikey asked, growing desperate. He kept knocking out ninja after ninja, but he was already growing weary from fighting so quickly in order to avoid getting hit.

"We keep fighting!" Donnie answered, spinning his bō staff and hitting a few of the ninjas. "Just keep going!"

"But it's been forever!" Mikey whined. "How long can we keep this up?"

"It's only been five minutes, Mikey." Donnie replied with a sigh. "And-oof!" He let out a grunt as one of the ninjas managed to knee him in the gut, which forced him to step backward, causing Mikey to step forward almost into a Foot ninja, who was swinging a katana.

"Dude!" Mikey shouted over his shoulder, blocking the attack just in time.

"Don't blame it on me!" Donnie retorted, swinging at the ninja who had hit him. "It wasn't my-"

The Foot ninja who had hit him came at him with a stronger force this time, slamming his body into Donnie and causing Mikey to fall forward on his knees. Mikey rolled to the left, avoiding an attack on his side while Donnie laid on his shell, holding up his bō staff above his eyes, trying to block punches and katana swipes.

"A little help here, Mikey!" Donnie shouted, seeing his bō snap from the multiple katana hits. His eyes widened and he quickly jerked to the side, avoiding a ninja who brought a sword down.

"I wish I could, D!" Mikey yelled back, jumping to his feet and whacking a ninja in the gut. "I'm a bit busy!"

"So am I!" Donnie grunted, managing to push a ninja back and jumping quickly to his feet. "I'm getting a bit outnumbered here!"

Donnie was beginning to notice a few things. Slowly but surely, ninjas were leaving Mikey's area and gathering around Donnie. They noticed that the two were slowing down, and were taking advantage of it. And, since they wanted Donnie next, they were gaining up on him to capture him. There were two options that he could do; one, to fight them all off. But he would eventually grow tired and need to stop. Or two, try to escape, which he had crossed out from his mental list earlier. So that only left number one as an option.

Mikey looked around him, seeing that there were only about five ninjas fighting him. It was becoming very easy for Mikey to fend off the enemy, but increasingly harder for Donnie to do so. He noticed that slowly but surely, each ninja would break off and join the other ninjas and fighting against Donnie. Even though Mikey wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, he knew exactly what was happening and exactly what their plan was and he had to make sure to not let that plan happen.

"D!" Mikey shouted, pushing a Foot ninja on the ground and looking over his shoulder at his lanky brother. "They're closing in on you, dude!"

"I think I've already realized that!" Donnie answered with a sigh as he did his best to fend everyone off. He was glad to see Mikey turn himself around so that he was beside him now instead of being directly behind him. The risk of rear attacks were higher, unfortunately, so Mikey would have to keep a look out for that, since Donnie was too busy fending off ninja after ninja.

They continued to fight for many more minutes, starting to grow weary of non stop battle. If things continued on the way they did, things would not end well for sure.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that one of the turtles got hit again, this time it being Mikey. Donnie looked over in surprise, seeing Mikey stumble back a bit. This gave the Foot a perfect chance to ambush Donnie without Mikey getting in the way. They all charged towards the purple masked mutant, leaving him with little options. He swung his broken bō staff about, hitting a few ninjas and making them fall on the ground, but there were just too many.

One slammed his body into Donnie, just like earlier, causing him to fall on his side. His two part bō staff skidded away a few feet from him, which made him have to reach to try to get it. As soon as he tried reaching though, a Foot ninja walked over and stomped on his hand, and kicked his staff away, just to make sure he wouldn't be able to reach for it again.

Donnie let out a pained yelp and immediately pulled his hand away, only to be kicked in the side by another ninja and hauled to his feet by another.

Mikey stood to his feet, his eyes widening as he saw three different ninjas holding Donnie back, making sure he wouldn't and couldn't escape. Donnie kicked and struggled against their grip, but it was no use. Their grip only became tighter.

"Donnie!" Mikey shouted. He realized what was going to happen. They would take Donnie away, because no matter how hard he and Donnie could try, the Foot ninjas would find ways to make sure that Donnie would not be going home. "Don't let them capture you! Please! I can't be alone!"

Donnie gave him a look of sympathy seeing the dread in Mikey's eyes. He continued to struggle, even though he knew his thrashing about was hopeless. "I'm sorry Mikey…" he muttered. He looked down and back up within a few seconds, accepting his fate. He knew he was going to be captured. Without his weapon and being way outnumbered, he couldn't do much else. Mikey could help him, but the Foot ninjas would probably hurt him, and Donnie didn't want that.

"Go!" Donnie urgently shouted. "Go back to the Lair!"

"But Donnie!" Mikey cried. "But-"

"Just go!" Donnie shouted. "Please! I can't let you get hurt! Leo and Raph have probably been hurt already."

"But I don't want you hurt either, dude!" Mikey protested. "It's bad enough having two of my bros missing! I can't have all of them gone!"

A Foot ninjas took out one of his katanas.

"Go Mikey! PLEASE!"

Mikey nodded, letting out a shaky exhale and turning around and running towards his home. He looked over his shoulder as he ran and he wished he hadn't. The Foot ninja raised his katana and slammed the butt of it on Donnie's head, rendering him unconscious. His limp body drooped forward and one of the ninjas picked him up and swung him over his shoulder like a garbage bag. They then ran away, and disappeared.

Mikey turned his head back around as he continued to run and sniffed. The third brother was gone...and that meant that he was next.

For a good amount of time, Leo and Raph just sat in silence. Conversation topics could not come to mind and they felt it was best to not waste their energy to talk anyway. And so they sat and breathed, Leo's breathing being more calm, of course, since he was in deep meditation.

Meditation had always been a way for Leo to calm down, and he most certainly needed the calm now. He kept his breathing steady, breathing in through his nostrils and out gently through his agape mouth, feeling calmer and calmer. In fact, part of him forgot that they were even in danger. Part of him thought he was at home, recovering from a horrific nightmare. It wasn't until he opened his eyes that reality punched him in the face. No, he wasn't home and no, he wasn't safe. He and Raph were still in a living nightmare, with them being the victims.

"Welcome back to Earth, big brother." Raph grumbled quietly, letting out a sigh and drumming the fingers of his good arm on the floor.

Leo let out a scoff, not impressed with Raph's attitude, instantly wishing he could go back to meditation. Or that Raph would.

"Has anything happened?" Leo asked after a moment of silence, his heart feeling heavy. He was afraid of his brother's answer. If his answer was a yes, he knew the answer would be bad.

"No, surprisingly." Raph answered, lifting his head up from against the wall. "It has been awfully quiet." He fell silent, and Leo could practically see the thoughts running through his younger brother's head. "Do you...do you think they're not doing anything because they're getting Donnie?"

"Don't say that." Leo snapped, cringing at his tone. "They won't get him."

"You don't know that, Leo." Raph muttered. "None of us do. No one is a true psychic, especially not us. We don't know what will happen."

"Let's just say they won't." Leo replied, shooting his brother a look. "I would rather have gals hopes than none at all."

Raph sighed again, remaining silent. He knew Leo was right. He too thought that at least giving himself false hopes would be better than having none. Thinking that Donnie had gotten captured would only make them upset, and that was the last thing they needed at the moment, especially since they were already upset enough.

"I remember Splinter telling me about false hopes once." Leo then said, breaking the silence that had filled the room. "He told me a story of when he first met Tang Shen."

"And this has to do with capture and torture how?"

"He was convinced Tang Shen liked him...but he was afraid to ask." Leo continued. "He was afraid his hopes would get smashed before him in the form of rejection. But then, one day, he asked her, and he found out the truth."

Leo sighed, and Raph sighed too, though his was more of an irritated sigh where Leo's was calm.

"I guess this ties into what we are experiencing because...we never really will know if our hopes are false or not until we see Donnie come through that door. If he doesn't...then we can continue to have hope that is real. But we will never know until our eyes see it, like Splinter didn't know until his ears heard it."

"Way to be insightful." Raph scoffed. "But, I guess it does make sense."

"Easier to think of a story than…" Leo then fell quiet, not wanting to bring up anything else horrific. He wanted to say more positive things, since he and Raph both needed it very much right now.

And so, they told random stories.

"Remember that time when Sensei gave us our first weapons? You totally almost sliced your hand off, Leo."

"Oh yeah? Well what about that time you tore a hole in your mask and had to make another?"

"And that time you stayed up till two in the morning watching Space Heros and got grounded for a week? You were sure upset."

"Or that time Mikey dyed your mask pink? Fun times."

They both chuckled, feeling their feelings of dread slowly melt away. But then they heard loud footsteps outside their door and they froze, anticipating what would happen.

A few voices could be heard muttering on the other side, their tones sounding annoyed and irritated. Neither of the brothers could make out what the people on the other side were saying, but they assumed they were arguing. But over what is what they wondered.

It then fell silent and a soft click could be heard as a key was inserted into a key hole and twisted. The door was quickly swung open, and a turtle tossed inside like a doll, uncared for and unwanted. He fell on his back and let out a grunt as his body hit the hard floor, making the Foot ninja that threw him in chuckle softly to himself as a Foot ninja ran in to chain his foot to the wall like his brothers.

"We will be back soon to give you your food." he said, obviously amused by Leo and Raph's shocked and angered expressions. "We'll give you some time to chat with your brother here."

He smirked, his eyes smiling at his accomplishment of capturing the third brother. And with that, he closed the door, not caring how loud it slammed.

Donnie sat up, letting out a groan due to his head spinning and hurting thanks to the whack the ninjas gave him on the head earlier. He saw colorful stars dance in his vision for only a few seconds before they faded away and his head wasn't spinning as much.

"Donnie!" Leo cried out. Luckily he was next to Donnie so he could reach him even with his chain. Raph, however, could not. His chain was a few inches too short, so he couldn't go up to his brother. All he could do was see and talk to him, which frustrated him beyond belief.

Donnie looked up, somewhat startled by Leo's sudden outburst.

"Leo? Raph? Oh thank goodness you're alright!" Donnie breathed, putting on a sad smile. "Are you hur-"

He paused, seeing in the dim light that his brothers did indeed have some injuries. His logical brain instantly started thinking of reasons how they could've gotten these injuries, and also how they could treat them. Though, his logical brain also told him that he had no access to any kind of supplies, especially not medical ones.

"Never mind." Donnie muttered, changing the position he was sitting in. "I see you've all been in a mess already."

"Yeah, I guess you could call it a mess." Raph grumbled. "This whole thing is a mess! There's only one turtle left, and that's Mikey! What the heck will happen if he gets captured too?!"

"Easy, easy, I told him to run away." Donnie assured him. "Mikey ran back to the Lair and none of the Foot followed him. They were all...uh, too focused on me."

"So that's it?" Raph asked, becoming rather frantic.

"Yes, Raph, that is all." Donnie replied. "We did find out you guys were here, though. We were about to go back to the Lair and inform Master Splinter so we could rescue you guys before sunrise. But, we ended up getting ambushed. They tricked us. They left evidence sitting out because they assumed we'd look for clues, which we did."

"Did you two find anything?" Leo wondered.

"We did, actually." Donnie answered. "We found one of your sais, Raph, for one thing. And, we also found an old prepaid phone that one of the Foot ninjas used to send messages to Stockman."

"Please tell me that you don't have it." Raph muttered, honestly hoping for the worst.

"Well...no, I don't. Mikey made sure to keep it with him." Donnie replied. "So, yes, he has it. And the texts told us you were here. So, hopefully Mikey is at the Lair by now telling Master Splinter the news so that they can create a plan."

"I hope so…" Leo sighed, leaning his head towards the ceiling. He prayed that nothing happened to him. Mikey was the last turtle left, the last turtle to tell Splinter where they were. If he got captured too, then it was all up to Splinter.

Leo couldn't bear thinking that the Shredder would get Splinter too. He couldn't let that happen. But, there was nothing he could do. He was stuck.

 **Hey all! I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long! I haven't had much motivation to write, and I finally got it last week and was able to finish this chapter, which I started back a few months ago. I hope that chapter 9 will not have as much of a delay, but we will have to see. But uh oh, 3 turtles are down!**

 **~Trip**


	9. Chapter 9

Thief in the Night Ch. 9

As soon as Donnie had ordered Mikey to escape, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. His breaths came out in panicked gasps as he ran, his goal to reach the Lair getting closer and closer with each step he took. Before he even realized, he was in the sewers, running through the murky water in the tunnels. He was almost there! He was so close!

It was almost like his body and mind were in control. He knew exactly where he was going, and before he was aware, he could see the entrance of his home. He knew now he should start shouting, as his Sensei just might be meditating.

"Master Splinter!" Mikey screamed, his breath at the sentence coming out as a pathetic sneeze.

His next scream was louder, more desperate as he neared the doorway. "Master Splinter!"

He jumped over the turnstiles and stood there, leaning forward with his hands resting on his knee pads, panting. Splinter was standing as well, his ears upright and alert, one hand resting on his cane. It appeared he had been sitting in the Pit-or living room- just recently, since he was standing near the long line of benches.

The mutant rat seemed very concerned, especially since two of his sons had left their home and only one returned. He feared the worst, but needed an answer. "Michaelangelo. What has happened?"

While his voice outside was calm and collected, inside, his stomach was doing flips, his mind was going in all sorts of directions. Miley looked up, his light blue eyes unbelievably upsetting. Tears were in his tear ducts, threatening to fall out at any moment. Mikey breathed in a few more times, more to collect himself rather than regain oxygen, before he spoke.

"We-we were ambushed!" he started, his voice loud and panicky sounding. "Th-they got Donnie! There were too many Foot but...uh...we...we got a phone! I-it was a Foot ninja and Stockman talking to each other! A-and...and they're still at their normal spot! Where they always go!"

Splinter simply nodded his head.

"We-we gotta go now! Raph and Donnie and Leo and-"

"I agree, Michelangelo, especially since we know where they are and we have a goal." Splinter replied quickly, silencing his son. "But first, let me read those texts."

With shaky hands, Mikey pulled out the cheap phone and handed it over to his Sensei. Splinter held the phone up close to his face, since his eyesight wasn't as good as it used to be, but, started reading. Though, he wasn't aware that the phone would die any minute now, considering the battery has now dropped to two percent. Fortunately, Splinter was able to gather all the information he needed before the phone bit the dust.

Splinter looked up at his son, whose eyes were wide and questioning. He was obviously wondering what they were going to do about this, which left Splinter to think; what WERE they going to do about this?

"Michelangelo," Splinter set down the phone. "What time was Donatello captured?"

Mikey stared at the ceiling, pursing his lips in concentration. He searched his brain, thinking of when he and his brother headed out, when the phone the phone, when they got ambushed and when Donnie ordered Mikey to retreat. He remembered Donnie saying each capture took place at eight at night or slightly later. That's around when Donnie got captured. The time it took for Mikey to get here, despite his speed, took him around fifteen minutes at the least. And here it has been almost ten just talking to Splinter.

"Uhh...eight...ish? I guess? Time is moving too quickly, like, y'know, like-"

"And the time now, Michaelangelo, is 8:34. The sun should rise later. We still have time." Splinter interrupted. "But, my son, before we go and barge in, we must create a plan first."

"Aww, but Sensei," Mikey wailed, trailing his words for extra emphasis to show his disapproval. "That's boring!"

"I realize the time it takes to create a plan may be tedious, yes. We do not have time for such a thing. We must make a quick plan, however, just so you and I have a better chance at success." Splinter replied. "Understand?"

Mikey let out an exaggerated sigh. "Hai, Sensei."

"Good." Splinter said, walking towards the screen separating the dojo from the living space. "Then let us create a plan, shall we?"

Mikey nodded, following him into the dojo. They both sat on pillows on the ground and began to discuss. Mikey only prayed his mind wouldn't wander off.

It wasn't until shortly after Donnie got thrown in the cell that a loud knocking was heard on the door. This instantly brought the three out of their thoughts, for they knew whatever was on the other side would most likely not be good.

The door loudly slammed open and two guards came in, one holding food, which consisted of one bowl of rice and a cup of water, and the other held a box. The three turtles eyed the box suspiciously as the guard walked in with it. What could possible be inside? Torture devices?

The guard walked up to Leo and Raph, ignoring Donnie completely. He then knelt down as the other guard set down the food and be opened the box before him. Inside was not torture instruments, but medical supplies, and the guard instantly started using them to clean and tend to the two brother's wounds, which confirmed Leo's earlier suspicion.

They didn't care how much the cleaning and stitching process hurt. After all, the more pain the better, as long as it didn't kill them right then. And, as soon as they were done, they stood up and swiftly headed towards the door, standing there for a moment.

"The Shredder will be coming by soon." one of the Foot soldiers sneered. "Better hope and pray you won't be killed."

And, with that sentence hanging in the open, the guards closed the door.

Donnie, with his logical mind, instantly began processing what the guard had just said and began to panic. Only inwardly, of course. This was really, really bad. His brothers couldn't get hurt worse! After all, they already had wounds. Opening those wounds again could be catastrophic.

"Donnie."

Donnie turned his head towards the noise, which happened to be Leo, and judging by his face, it appeared he had called his name several times.

"You need to eat. When did you last eat?"

"Not too long ago, Leo." Donnie replied. "I'll be fine for a day. In fact, I could be fine longer. The body can last a maximum of three weeks without any source of food and three days without any-"

"Donnie. Please."

"No." Donnie shook his head, making his voice sound as stubborn as he could make it. "You all are injured! The best way for you to have a more successful healing process would be to keep up with your body's demand for food. You need to get an intake of protein and vitamins, and liquids especially. Without that, your body could slowly start shutting down. You and Raph both."

Leo simply stated back at him, his schpeal about food obviously not getting through to him. Or, he was refusing to listen to it.

"The last time I ate was before we left, Leo. It's only been a few hours! You both need this more than I do." He reached over and passed the tray to Leo. "Both of you should eat."

Leo sighed, obviously not liking this idea but he eventually nodded his head and slid the tray in between him and Raph. Donnie watched them eat, making it absolutely certain that his two brothers ate all of it. And, once he saw that the food and water was a gone, he let himself relax.

"The guard said that the Shredder would be coming soon…" Donnie thought out loud. "When-"

"I don't know and I don't care." Raph interrupted. "If I have to see that creep one more time, I'll bash his skull in!"

"I bit hard to do considering he wears a metal helmet." Donnie pointed out, which only received a nasty glare from his red masked brother, along with a growl of frustration.

"We will get out." Leo said, determination filling his voice. "There's still hope. Mikey went back to the Lair as far as we know."

"And I'm sure he's already told Master Splinter what has happened." Donnie added.

"So? Sure Sensei may know what's up but who knows how long it'll take them to get here?!" Raph objected. "We can't just sit here for another day!"

"You're right Raph." Leo sighed. "We can't."

He knew, one more day in this cell could be damaging. More wounds would be made, starvation could start to set and take its toll.

They needed rescuing and they needed it fast.

 **Authors note: Hey all! I'm sorry for my lack of chapters these past few months. I had my summer break and now I'm back in school and I honestly did not write much over the summer. Sorry about that! Anyway, this story is almost over, just a couple more chapters! I'll try to upload more frequently.**


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